We'll Always Have Risa
by SciFiFanForever
Summary: This is what started it all for me, when my teenage kids asked what would happen if Dr. Who met Star Trek? Then another chipped in with meeting Predator, and the other suggested Alien. That got me thinking...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Scientists like to describe space-time as a rubber sheet, similar to a trampoline. Place a bowling ball on the trampoline and it warps space-time. Roll a tennis ball across the trampoline and the bowling ball attracts it because of the depression it makes on the surface of the trampoline. This is a pretty good analogy of how gravity works, put a heavy enough object on the trampoline and it forms a deep well. Scientists believe that if you could fold the rubber of the trampoline and pass from one side to the other, you could travel across the universe in the blink of an eye and possibly travel through time as well.

Scientists!

If only they knew.

**TARDIS internal chronometer  
September 2007**

The TARDIS was travelling between the folds in space-time. This remarkable blue box could not only fold space-time; it could do origami on it and make a flapping bird if it wanted to.

TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, and what that means is, a large volume can exist within a smaller volume when it is in a parallel dimension.

Inside the little blue box was a large interior that resembled a Gothic church with the builders in. The fact that it was larger on the inside made your brain hurt if you tried to work it out.

The owner of the TARDIS was a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey on the far side of our galaxy. The Time Lords used to be the guardians of time, the 'time police' of the galaxy, watching events unfold and ensuring that nothing interfered with the natural flow of cause and effect.

This Time Lord called himself the Doctor, and owner isn't the right word to use, since he stole it in the first place… Well, stolen is a bit harsh really, since the TARDIS chose him as the owner.

It's an old, decommissioned and derelict TT Type 40 Mark 3 capsule that the Doctor saw in a museum on his home planet. The Doctor unwittingly formed a telepathic bond with the 'soul' of the TARDIS and borrowed it for a while… a very long while.

In the TARDIS with the Doctor was a young female called Rose Tyler. She was from Earth's 21st century. The two occupants had just left Earth after the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Just before that they had used the Olympic flame and its associated psychic good will from the inhabitants of the planet Earth to help an alien entity called an Isolus find its way back to its family.

The Doctor, however, didn't enjoy the games as much as he should have. A feeling of foreboding was nagging at him; something was coming slowly through time and space. It was unstoppable and inevitable, but he didn't know what it was, where it was coming from or when it would arrive.

"So where is it we're going?" The Doctor came out of his reverie. Rose was rummaging through her back pack looking for a holiday outfit.

"I told you: Risa. It's THE place to go on holiday in this part of the galaxy, and I think we deserve a holiday." He hoped a rest and a bit of relaxation would make the feeling if not go away then at least make it less worrying.

Rose looked at the Doctor with doubt in her eyes. She had been on journeys with him before and ended up in completely the wrong time and place. "Does this planet have a beach, by any chance?" she enquired.

He looked across the TARDIS console with his boyish grin. "Miles and miles of white, sandy beaches, crystal caves, beautiful forests, hundreds of miles of ski slopes and a night-time view to die for."

That got her attention. "Tell me more."

The Doctor put on his serious face. "I couldn't possibly spoil the surprise."

"Oh, go on," she pleaded.

"No, honestly, a description just doesn't do it justice. You have to see it to believe it." The Doctor adjusted a few controls and inspected the readouts. "Here we go, return your chairs to the upright positions and fasten your seat belts we're about to land."

"Where and when?" Rose asked. "I remember when you tried to take me to the Ian Dury concert in Sheffield in 1979. Queen Victoria was not amused."

The Doctor looked up at Rose. "Hush, you'll hurt the old girl's feelings. She does the best she can." The Doctor often referred to the TARDIS as the "old girl"; after all, it was a living entity.

"You're telling me that the TARDIS is to blame for your inability to land in the right place at the right time?" Rose asked.

"It's not easy navigating a path through the swirling vortex of time and space you know. Also, the TARDIS has a built-in chronometer that remembers where and when you've been and paradox avoidance software so that you can't accidentally bump into yourself. Did you ever wonder how you could call your mum and it would be the same time for her as it was for you since you last saw her?"

Actually, Rose had, the first time she phoned her mum. She had been billions of years in the future, yet the passage of time had been equal for both. The TARDIS acted as a telephone exchange and adjusted the time to match.

The Doctor made a few more adjustments in preparation for landing as he tried to explain. "Imagine being on a unicycle that is on a board, balancing on a ball, rolling along a high wire. At the same time you are juggling an egg, a bowling ball and a ping-pong ball. It's a sort of team effort, I'm on the unicycle and the TARDIS juggles the balls. I work out where and when we want to go and the TARDIS works out the best and safest way to get there."

Rose had to admit that she hadn't considered the complexities of time travel. "When you put it like that, it's amazing that we finish in the right galaxy."

"Well, we're definitely in the right galaxy now. We are about 90 light-years from Earth, in the resort of Suraya Bay, its mid-morning, 32 degrees, hot and sunny. I think beach wear is the order of the day."

The Doctor disappeared into the wardrobe, leaving Rose to finish rummaging in her back pack for a summer outfit.

*** * * January 2378 * * ***

Risa is an M-class world slightly smaller than Earth in a binary star system, called Epsilon Ceti B.

Originally a dismal, rain-soaked, and geologically unstable jungle planet plagued by violent earthquakes, the native Risans transformed their world with a technologically advanced weather control network that provided nearly constantly desirable weather, and seismic regulators to end the geological instability for the best tourist comfort.

Known for its beautiful tropical resorts and abundance of pristine beaches, Risa is famous as a place of tourism and recreation. It got the reputation as a "pleasure planet" because of its constant, stable climate, its attractive landscapes, and most of all, it's very friendly staff.

Years of tectonic activity resulted in the planet's surface being fragmented into ten small continents, all about the same size, and all located around the equator.

As for the climate, Risa has warm temperatures and tropical humidity tempered by mild breezes and light rains. The planet has two very small ice caps which gave it a hint of natural coldness.

Rose had found a white bikini over which she wore a white blouse tied at the front, a wrap around skirt, sandals and a floppy straw hat to protect her from the suns.

The Doctor appeared from the wardrobe in a loud Hawaiian shirt, Bermuda shorts, his usual red trainers and a Panama hat. Rose couldn't help but laugh at the apparition in front of her.

"What do you look like?" she giggled.

"A tourist, I hope," the Doctor replied in a matter of fact tone. He took Rose by the hand and headed for the door. "Come on then, the holiday starts here."

Rose held her breath as she expected to step out into an arctic blizzard or worse. They actually stepped out into a dimly lit, narrow side street bazaar. To their right, through an archway was the sunny town square of Suraya Bay, built into the side of a semi circular cliff on three levels.

A forest topped the cliffs and to the north of the town a waterfall cascaded down and the river ran under a stone foot bridge to the sea. Rose felt it had a Mediterranean feel to it, with white-walled buildings and colourful awnings.

The Doctor donned a pair of sunglasses that would have made Timmy Mallet envious, where as Rose went for more of an Audrey Hepburn look from 'Breakfast at Tiffany's.'

The TARDIS landed between two shops in the bazaar selling metal urns and pots, and didn't attract any attention due to the perception filter which meant you would look at it but not really see it.

The bazaar and square were busy with tourists of all shapes, sizes and colours. Market stalls set out in the square were selling a bewildering array of goods.

"This is what I imagined a bazaar in Cairo would look like." Rose's eyes were wide in wonder, like a child in a sweet shop with money to spend. Except that she hadn't.

"I don't suppose they take English pounds or Euros, do they?" she asked, looking up into his eyes with a pleading look.

"I don't suppose they do," he replied distractedly. He was searching his pockets for something.

"Do they barter or trade? Maybe I could find somethin' in my back pack," Rose suggested.

"I think some of them do, ah, here it is." The Doctor produced a red plastic card from the pocket of his shirt. "Most of them tend to use these."

"That's not what I think it is, is it?" she asked suspiciously.

"A Galactic Express card, that should do nicely." He grinned and held it out for Rose.

She took the card and looked at it, trying to assess its validity. "How did you get a credit card? Don't you need a job? Or money?"

The Doctor looked at the sky and around the square. "Well, usually, yes, I suppose you do," he started. "But you see, there was this man who was about to have his brains sucked out through his ears by a particularly nasty alien parasite."

Rose screwed up her face in disgust.

"He was really grateful and gave me this card as a sign of that gratitude. I've never had a use for it. I don't even know how much credit is on it."

The child in the sweet shop smile returned. "Can I try it?" she asked.

"It's yours." He laughed. "Have a blast."

"Woo hoo! You're the best!" she exclaimed, kissed him on the cheek and disappeared into the crowded market.

The Doctor smiled to himself and, shaking his head, set off into the crowd after her. He caught up with her at a bric-à-brac stall where she was speaking with a short orange alien with large ears and pointed teeth. Rose was holding a golden conical object in the palm of her hand.

The peddler was giving his sales pitch. "It goes cold when it's going to rain and warm when it's dry. Risans used it before they had a weather control network; it's a bit of a relic."

The Doctor came up beside her, and she showed him the trinket. "Oh, bazoolium alloy," he announced.

"This will be perfect for my Mum when she wants to hang out the washing." She turned back to the stall holder. "I'll take it."

She handed over the card and the little orange alien placed it on a hand-held key pad. Rose leaned over and looked at the card reader. "Err, how much credit do I have left on that card?" Rose asked nonchalantly.

The alien, who was from a race of galactic traders called the Ferengi, tapped the buttons on the card reader. His eyes went wide in disbelief. "999,998."

Rose's jaw dropped and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Is, is that as much as it sounds?" She was feeling decidedly faint.

The Ferengi smiled. "You could buy every item in every shop and stall, including the buildings, and still have plenty change."

Rose slowly turned to the Doctor, mouth still open; the Doctor looked nonplussed. "Who was this man you saved?"

"Didn't I say?" He inspected some of the items on display. "He was the ruler of a kingdom on a planet about twenty light years from here."

Rose recovered some of her composure. "No, you didn't say. And here was me worried about havin' to find some jewellery to barter with."

The Doctor put his arm around her and pulled her close. "And now you don't have to." He grinned. "Come on, let's go and try that card in the coffee shop over there."

They spent the rest of the morning exploring the town. They strolled up to High Town where the view out over the bay was spectacular. There where mainly restaurants and clothes shops on this level and more market stalls.

They walked down to Low Town where there were more specialist outlets, diving gear, boat hire etc. The market place down here extended south to form a jetty where boats moored. The pair walked north, over the simple stone foot bridge and on to the silver sands.

Rose slipped off her sandals and the Doctor removed his trainers. They wandered down to the water's edge, the sand felt good between their toes as. Rose dipped her toes in to the incoming wave.

"Ooh, that feels great!" she exclaimed.

The Doctor stood beside her and wriggled his toes in the water. "Mmmm, this requires more immersion."

He walked back up the beach and dropped his trainers on the sand. Rose followed and put her sandals next to them. He removed his shirt, hat and sunglasses. Rose stripped down to her white bikini and hand in hand they ran in to the surf.

For nearly an hour they behaved like children, splashing one another. Dunking and wrestling in the surf and body surfing through each others legs. It was mid afternoon when they ran up the beach and collapsed on the sand giggling.

They lay side by side in silence, listening to the beautiful alien bird songs coming from the forest above the cliffs. The warmth of the two suns soon dried their wet bodies and they just lay there enjoying the moment.

Rose turned her head to look at the Doctor. He was already looking at her, smiling. She mouthed the words "thank you," afraid that if she made a sound the spell would be broken and the magic of the moment would disappear.

Beyond the horizon, dark storm clouds were gathering and a warm breeze blew in off the ocean.

Near the jetty in Low Town was a little tavern that specialised in preparing and cooking food brought in by the fishermen. The Doctor and Rose were sitting at a table outside, enjoying lunch. Rose couldn't believe the taste of the food, it was the best thing she had ever tasted.

Through the open door of the tavern, the Doctor could see a view screen behind the bar showing a 24-hour-news channel. A breaking news story was attracting some attention.

When the waiter brought the bill, the Doctor asked him what was happening.

"One of the major environmental control stations has gone off-line. This one not only controls the weather, it also controls the gravity stabilisers. Apparently, if they don't get it back on-line in the next half hour there will be hurricane force winds and a storm surge hitting the coast, and the risk of a major quake and tsunami."

Rose looked at the Doctor and saw that look on his face. They would be heading for the TARDIS.

* * *

"Here, put these waterproofs on, it'll be pretty unpleasant out there," the Doctor told Rose, handing her the yellow oil skin jacket and trousers.

The environmental control platform was a 200-metre-tall pyramid structure of girders, pipes and cables, sat on pillars anchored to the ocean floor. The Doctor landed the TARDIS on the deck of the platform, near the large, arched entrance.

They stood inside the TARDIS by the doors. "Ready?" he asked her.

She nodded and they rushed out in to, afternoon sunshine and blue skies. "What?!" the Doctor said in confusion. A group of men in hi-vis jackets and hard hats were chatting as they walked out of the pyramid.

A man in uniform was heading towards the Doctor and Rose, who felt decidedly over dressed. "You two, what are you doing here? This is a restricted area."

The Doctor thought quickly and produced a wallet from his pocket. "Doctor John Smith, environmental engineer, and this is my assistant Miss Tyler."

The man in uniform looked at the blank paper and saw the Doctors credentials from the United Federation of Planets, Technical Advisory Board. The psychic paper was blank, but people saw what they expected to see on it, a kind of hypnosis or auto suggestion.

"Artemis Constantine, Senior Supervisor," the man said, holding out his hand.

The Doctor shook his hand, saying, "I saw on the news that you were having trouble and came to lend a hand."

He was looking a bit puzzled and embarrassed. "That's very kind of you, but it's all under control. I've got a good team of technicians on the case, and the news channel love to build a story." He looked up behind the Doctor to where a remote news camera was hovering.

"Oh, right. You don't need my help then," the Doctor asked. The official shook his head. Rose looked at the Doctor, he looked positively disappointed.

"Come on; let's get back to our holiday. You'll be chasin' ambulances next." She linked arms with the Doctor, smiled at the official and steered the Doctor back toward the TARDIS.

Rose was finding the situation amusing. "Well, that's a first; you rush to save a world, and a load of men with hard hats and a bag of spanners beat ya to it," she joked. "Is there any night life on Risa?" she asked the Doctor, to change the subject.

Before he could answer, Artemis Cornelius called after them. "You want to head for the capital Nuvia, they've got some really good night clubs there." Rose waved a thank you as they entered the TARDIS.

* * *

They had landed in a small park in the middle of the city, in a pedestrian area with trendy bars and cafés. Rose had changed in to her little black dress that she wore for clubbing on a Saturday night. The Doctor had his usual suit with his red trainers.

Rose had been to the West End of London on a Saturday night, this though was something else. She had seen Time Square and Las Vegas in films and on TV. Mix them all together with a bit of Hong Kong and Singapore and you started to get the picture.

Rose squealed with delight and excitement. "I wonder where the 'in' place in town is." She was turning in circles looking up at all the advertising displays.

"In my experience on any planet, find the longest queue and you've found the most popular venue."

Rose looked at him in amazement. "In your experience?" she asked. "You never said you were a clubber."

"I have been known to dance the night away, but I was talking about museums, but the principle's the same," he told her.

Rose laughed. "It's a brilliant idea anyway."

"That's me." He grinned. "Brilliant." They set off across the street towards a crowd of people waiting outside the 'hottest' place in town.

"We'll never get in there," Rose complained. "There are a hundred people here at least."

The Doctor reached into his pocket. "They don't have psychic paper." He waved the little wallet in front of Rose, grinning.

"Come with me, my dear," he said jokingly, holding out his arm for her to take.

They walked up to the doorman, a six feet tall alien with dark skin and a series of ridges on his forehead. He was a Klingon, a warrior race highly sort after as security operatives. Their reputation meant that no one in their right mind would mess with them. He looked down at them with an expressionless face.

"Yes?" he growled, that one word saying so much.

The Doctor smiled his disarming smile. "Health and safety inspector for the Bureau of Tourism." He held out the wallet at arm's length in the door man's face.

The doorman saw an official identity card on the blank paper. "Health and safety?" Three more words that said so much.

The Doctor was about to respond when Rose piped up. "Yes, do you know the traction coefficient of the dance floor?"

The door man straightened up with a puzzled look on his face. Rose wasn't sure if he was frowning or if it was the ridges on his brow.

"And if someone spills a drink on the floor, how does that affect the coefficient?" she continued. Now Rose thought the door man looked concerned.

"I don't know," he responded. Rose was on a roll; the Doctor looked on in admiration.

"We need to do a bit of dancin' and have a few drinks for my colleague here to calculate the fluid dynamics." The Doctor winced at that one; the doorman, however, seemed to have believed every word.

"You had better come in." And with that, he unhooked the red rope and let them through.

Hours later, they emerged from the club, both slightly tipsy. Giggling, Rose went up to the door man to report. "The floors are safe," she confided.

He looked down at her. "Good!" He really knew how to use those words.

"Right, where's that card then?" The Doctor looked towards Rose and she opened her bag to have a look. Her small designer bag seemed to hold more than she remembered. She didn't know that the Doctor had made it bigger on the inside. Eventually she found the red card.

"What are you goin' to buy at this time of night?" she asked as they started to move down the street, arm in arm.

"Well, if we're on holiday, we might as well make it a five-star holiday. See that tall building over there." He pointed unsteadily to a beautiful alien building about 200 metres away.

"The one that looks as though it's been grown and not built?" she asked.

"That's the one. It so happens that it's the best hotel on Risa and we are going to rent the penthouse suite."

She squealed with delight again. This holiday would be one to remember. As they entered the hotel, the Doctor looked up. All the street lights and advertising displays meant that you couldn't see the night sky. 'Good,' he thought, that was a sight he wanted to save for another night.


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: The Doctor and Rose make new friends. Rose learns the ancient art of seduction. Thanks to Memory Alpha ( /wiki/Portal:Main) for the Star Trek reference information.

**Chapter 2**

A gentle 'ding-dong' roused Rose from her slumber. It took her a moment to become orientated.

She was falling!

She flapped about in a panic until she realised that there was a silky sheet floating a metre above the floor.

She was floating on that silky sheet, and another silky sheet and a duvet were floating on her. Looking towards the window there was a chair with her little black dress and underwear on it.

'Uh-oh.' She lifted the sheet and looked. 'Okay, I'm naked and I'm floating,' she thought.

"Ding-dong," there it was again.

"Hello?" she called out to the sound. Ugh, that made her head twinge.

"Room service Madam, breakfast." The door slid open with a swish and a trolley made its way in to the room. It stopped next to the bed and a robotic arm placed a tray of breakfast on Rose's lap.

"Would Sir also like breakfast?" the trolley asked.

"You bet. I'm starving." The Doctor emerged from the bathroom rubbing his wet hair and wearing a white bathrobe.

"Just pop it on the table would you." The trolley obliged and put a tray on the table by the balcony door.

"Enjoy your breakfasts." The trolley made its way out with another swish of the door.

Rose had the sheets pulled up to her chin as she said. "I'm floating naked between silk sheets."

The Doctor grinned. "Yes I know, anti gravity beds, genius! Wasn't that the best nights sleep ever?"

"And I'm naked!" she reiterated, hoping he would be able to offer an insight in to how she had gotten to bed.

There was a look of comprehension as he said. "Ah, right, yes, of course." He went around the bed to the bathroom and came out with another robe.

"There you are," he said as he dropped it on the bed. She gave him a look of exasperation, moved the tray off her lap, grabbed the robe and disappeared under the sheets.

The Doctor picked up his tray and went out to the balcony to enjoy the morning air. As he sat down at the balcony table, he heard a muffled squeak and a thud from the bedroom. When he looked at the bed, Rose had vanished. Her head popped up from behind the bed, her hair disheveled.

"How the hell do you get off a floating bed anyway?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

The Doctor sprayed a mouthful of coffee back into the cup. He tried to stifle the laugh that was rising in his chest but that made it worse. Rose picked herself off the floor and haughtily pulled the robe around her, tied the belt and tried to walk nonchalantly toward the balcony. Tears of laughter ran down the Doctors cheeks. Seeing him sitting there laughing lightened her mood and Rose started to smile, then giggle, then couldn't contain the laughter.

They were enjoying their breakfast together, although Rose's head was still delicate and her legs ached from dancing.

"What were we drinking last night?" she asked.

"Well there was something green, something yellow and something blue," he answered helpfully. "Oh, and the Risa Rainbow. Do you remember that one? All the different colours swirling around in the glass."

"How come you're so bright and cheerful?" she complained.

"Ah, that would be the Vulcan hangover cure," he replied. He took out a little bottle from the pocket of his robe and put a couple of drops into Rose's sparkling water. The water turned a luminous blue colour. "Have a sip of that, you'll feel much better."

Rose took a sip and felt a chill spread out from her stomach into her fingers and toes, quickly followed by a warm glow. 'Wow!' it felt like someone had used a feather duster on the inside of her head.

"That's fantastic, my head feels great," she told him. She rolled her head around and stretched her shoulders. "Have you got one of those for stiff legs?" she asked.

The Doctor was browsing an e-pad that was on the table. "No, but this might help." The pad displayed a holographic advert for the Kassandra Health Spa.

She took the pad and read it. 'Enjoy a massage, sauna and Jacuzzi,' it read, 'followed by a make over and your own personal shopper.'

She had read about personal shoppers in the glossy magazines back home. The rich and famous had them and now she could have one too.

She looked up at the Doctor. "Can I?" she asked, almost pleading.

He smiled at her. "Of course, you're on holiday."

* * *

Rose was lying face down on a couch with the 24 muscular fingers of the Nuvian masseur working their magic on her muscles. She was a musical instrument being played by a virtuoso, if her muscles relaxed any more she felt she would melt and drip off the couch. When the masseur started on her legs they exploded with pain and then soothed under those expert fingers. Rose let out a quiet groan which ended in a sigh.

"Wonderful isn't it?" Rose turned her head to the right to see a woman with dark hair and dark eyes on the couch next to her. She was receiving the same treatment and had the same serene smile as Rose.

"I feel light-headed," Rose informed her.

"That's the effect of serotonin being released in your brain. These girls are so good if you are not careful they can give you an orgasm."

Rose blushed and the woman laughed. "Don't worry, they only do it if you ask them to," she confided. Rose smiled with relief, although, that would be an experience.

The woman's massage was over and she sat up with her back to Rose. As she got off the couch Rose could see her body was well toned. She declined the offer of a robe as she moved toward the sauna.

"Will I see you in the sauna?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Yes," Rose replied dreamily, "I've got the works."

The woman's eyebrows rose in admiration. "I hope someone else is paying?" she said.

"Yes, my friend is," Rose answered.

"He must really think a lot of you," she said as she went through to the sauna.

Rose thought to herself. 'Yes, I suppose he must.'

Rose entered the sauna wearing a bath robe, even though she started to perspire almost immediately, she wasn't comfortable being naked in front of strangers.

"Hello again." The woman she had met earlier was lying on a bench in the corner. "That robe must make you hot," she said.

"I thought that was the idea," replied Rose.

The woman laughed. "I can't argue with that." She propped herself up on an elbow and held out her hand. "Deanna Troi."

Rose shook her hand. "Rose Tyler. Pleased to meet you."

"Is this your first visit to Risa?" Deanna asked.

Rose looked at Deanna's face, mainly to avoid looking at her breasts. "Yes, yes it is." She tried to keep the conversation going. "We arrived yesterday. And you, have you been here before?"

Deanna smiled. "Oh yes, Will and I come here a lot on vacation."

"Will? Is that your husband?" Rose asked.

"No, not yet," she smiled. "He's my imzadi; it means my beloved in my native tongue."

"Aah, that sounds so romantic," said Rose.

"And you? Are you married Rose?"

Rose laughed. "Oh no, not me. Me and the Doctor are just friends travelling together." She fell silent and thoughtful for a moment.

They chatted amicably about their holidays and their plans to visit the sights and experience the delights of Risa. Deanna was really easy to talk to, and Rose felt a friendship developing between them.

Eventually, after half an hour the conversation came around to men. Apparently Deanna's fiancé Will, came from Alaska back on Earth.

Rose was telling her about the Doctor when Deanna said. "You say you are travelling companions? I get the feeling you'd like more than just friendship."

Rose couldn't blush because she was already too hot. Was it that obvious, even to a stranger?

Deanna saw that Rose was uncomfortable. "Oh I'm sorry Rose; I didn't mean to embarrass you. You see I'm a councillor and an empath, it's what I do for a living."

Rose looked up. "Empath? Is that like telepathy? Can you read my mind?" she asked suspiciously.

Deanna looked horrified. "Oh no, no. It means I feel your emotional state, your hopes, and your fears, your doubts."

Rose felt uneasy about this. "And what do you feel about me now?" she asked, almost as a challenge.

"Understandably you're suspicious that I might be able to read your mind. Honestly I can't. I know you are in love with this man you call the Doctor, but you are not sure that he loves you. Something happened. Did he say or do something that made you doubt he could commit to a relationship? How am I doing?"

Deanna looked up; Rose was holding back the tears welling up in her eyes.

Deanna realised she had touched a raw nerve. "Oh Rose, I'm sorry. I get carried away sometimes. You poor thing." Deanna came over and sat next to Rose and put an arm around her shoulder.

Rose found herself confiding in this stranger and she didn't know why. "He said I could spend the rest of my life with him, it was just what I wanted to hear," Rose whispered.

A tear ran down her cheek and mixed in with the perspiration. "And then he snatched the rug from under me, he said he could never spend the rest of his life with me. You see his race is long-lived."

She looked at Deanna, tears were coming freely now, she began to sob. Deanna gave her a hug; the kind of hug a mother gives a child who is in pain. "I love him so much, and yet sometimes it's as if he doesn't even know I'm there."

"Rose, I think he does love you, he loves you very much. In my experience, long-lived people tend to deny their emotions to save themselves from the pain of loss." Deanna stood Rose up. "Let's get out of this heat."

They went through to the pool area. Deanna stepped down into a Jacuzzi.

Rose stood at the edge of the pool; she wiped her eyes and nose on her sleeve. "I must look a mess."

Deanna looked up, concern all over her face. "You look beautiful. Come on in, the waters great, and the bubbles ain't bad either," she joked.

Rose gave a single laugh. "Okay," she smiled and shyly slipped off the robe and lowered herself in to the water. After the heat of the sauna, the warm bubbling water was a relief.

"Rose," Deanna smiled, "I think your Doctor loves you so much he is afraid of the grief he will suffer when he out lives you. He may have outlived other friends before. You have to make him forget that pain and think about the joy of being with you."

Rose was reluctant to ask; after all she had only just met Deanna. "You know how you said you were a councillor Deanna." She nodded in acknowledgement, anticipating Rose' question. "Well, do you think you could help me to make him realise that I love him?"

Deanna smiled a warm smile. "Rose, it will be a pleasure. Prepare to learn the ancient and gentle art of seduction."

Rose dunked herself under the water and gave a 'whoop' as she came back up.

* * *

The Doctor got Rose to drop him off at the museum of antiquities on her way to the spa.

He loved to browse the artefacts in museums. Some of them he remembered being made, some of them being used. He liked to play a guessing game with himself, which artefacts were robust enough to survive the millennia and which were too fragile. It amazed him how wrong he could be at times.

The historians' theories on how people used the artefacts and the societies that created them gave him the most amusement. To be fair, their theories were often correct. However, when a child's pottery doll becomes a religious icon and an ornate promotional flask for a one-off 'music festival' is seen as an everyday item, he can't help but laugh out loud. He normally gets funny looks as he talks to himself and laughs, museums are normally educational, not entertaining.

"Ooh, look at that. I thought that would have rusted away by now. I remember that being forged. Robart the smithy, that was him. Thought he could make a better sword by folding the iron with charcoal dust. Who'd have thought it?" he grinned to himself.

The museum staff looked at him and gave one other knowing looks. They just thought he was an eccentric simpleton. They got the first part right.

He had started on the top floor of the museum where the exhibits showed how people had lived on Risa thousands of years ago. He remembered that, rain, storms, volcanoes and earthquakes. The two suns and three moons placed a great strain on the tectonics of the planet. People constantly searched for safe places to settle and worship of various deities to help with the process was common place.

He moved down the floors through art and culture, agriculture, technological progression, all charting the step by step ascent of Risans to where they where today.

"Ho ho, look at you," he said to a painting of a famous ruler.

"Oh look, raptor tracks in mud. Those critters could move fast. Sharp teeth as well, could have you finger off when feeding them a biscuit. Brilliant at rounding up cattle though."

He went on like this all the way through to the obligatory gift shop at the exit. In the gift shop was a tall man with dark hair and a beard talking to the sales assistant behind a display cabinet. The assistant was showing him a well-preserved pottery cup.

"My friend is an accomplished amateur archaeologist, would this be suitable as a gift?" he asked.

The assistant was in sales mode. "This is a particularly well-preserved piece sir; there is an excellent example of the decoration around the lip of the cup." He held the display box up for the customer to see that it was a particularly fine example of decoration as he had said.

"Mmm, I see what you mean." The customer was making his mind up.

The Doctor had heard enough. "A fine piece for a collector yes," the Doctor interrupted. "But an archaeologist, he would want a piece of a puzzle, something that went against conventional wisdom, something that he could research and investigate until he found the answer."

The customer and the sales assistant looked at the Doctor. "Does that sound like your friend?" he asked the stranger.

The man grinned, "Yes it does, that sounds just like the kind of thing he would want."

"Then may I bring your attention to this piece here." The Doctor was pointing at the handle of a pot in the display case. "Could we have a look at this?" he asked the assistant.

"Certainly sir," he answered and reached under the glass top and lifted out the box.

The Doctor took his magnifying glass out of his pocket. "See the markings on the outer surface of the handle?"

The customer moved in for a closer look. "Oh yes, I see them."

The Doctor continued. "They are undecipherable runes, an incantation to Jahalla the god of storms. Priests burned Incense and prayed for the storms to stop."

The customer and the assistant both said "fascinating." The Doctor looked at the assistant, at the customer, and back at the assistant.

"Please continue," the customer said.

"What? Oh right. Well, the handle dates to two thousand one hundred years ago. It says so on the display." The customer and assistant both looked and nodded. "Are these artefacts dated in a laboratory using isotope decay labeling?" he asked the assistant.

"Oh yes sir, they have the 'institute of antiquities' stamp."

The Doctor nodded and resumed his narrative. "Now here comes the rub. Conventional wisdom has the storm god cult originating one thousand seven hundred years ago, four hundred years after the incantations to him appeared on the handle of the pot."

All three men straightened up from leaning on the counter. "That," said the Doctor "is a gift for an archaeologist." He triumphantly thrust his magnifying glass back into his pocket.

The grinning customer turned to the wide-eyed sales assistant and said. "I'll take it."

The assistant took the box back. "Very good sir, an excellent choice."

The Doctor was already on the street when the customer hurried out after him.

"Excuse me. You there," he called after the Doctor.

The Doctor turned around. "You didn't give me a chance to thank you for the advice."

The Doctor smiled. "No problem," he replied.

The customer held out his hand. "Will Riker."

The Doctor shook his hand. "Er, John Smith." He replied, and then added. "But most people call me the Doctor."

"A doctor of an archaeology no doubt," Will replied.

"Well yes," the Doctor started to reply as Will continued.

"Say, are you busy?" he asked. "How about we have a coffee and you can tell me more about the storm god."

The Doctor looked at his watch. "I'm supposed to meet my friend for lunch in a while, maybe another time."

Will nodded. "Yes, of course. No problem. I have to meet my fiancé soon anyway."

He held out his hand again. "Nice to meet you John, er Doctor."

The Doctor smiled. "See you around Will." They shook hands and turned to cross the street, in the same direction. After they crossed the street they both headed in the same direction through a small park. Will started to laugh, the Doctor was grinning.

"Are you meeting your friend in the pedestrian square off Second and Main by any chance?" Will asked.

The Doctor nodded in amusement. "And you?" he asked.

"Yep," Will grinned. "Fancy a beer instead of a coffee?"

The Doctor thought about it for a millisecond. "Only if it's cold in a chilled glass," the Doctor grinned.

"Sounds great."

* * *

The Doctor and Will sat at a table outside a café, a couple of chilled beers in front of them. The Doctor had told him about the history of Risa, from the complex gravitational forces that formed the continents to the twin suns that caused complex weather patterns. About the people and cultures, some that thrived and some that didn't survive. The depth of the Doctors knowledge amazed Will; it's almost as if he had first hand knowledge of the historical events.

The Doctor warmed to William Thomas Riker. He was first officer on a star ship which was in space dock for a re-fit. The crew was on shore leave, so he and his fiancé had come to Risa for a few days R & R. The captain of the ship was inspirational. The archaeological artifact was for him.

Will was a decent man with a sense of duty, adventure and humour. Apparently he was a mean poker player and the Doctor would love to hit the casinos with him.

They were sipping their beers when Will looked past the Doctors shoulder and waved.

"There's Deanna now," he said. "It looks like she's picked up a new friend on the way."

The Doctor turned and looked over his shoulder. Two women were walking towards them carrying bags, chatting and laughing as they walked.

One of the women looked very familiar. "Rose?" The Doctor said disbelievingly.

Will looked at the Doctor. "You know her?" he asked.

The sense of foreboding rushed forward in his mind, bounced off the front of his skull and ran back into the shadows. 'No, this is just a coincidence,' he told himself.

Rose and Deanna had been on a shopping spree with a personal shopper and they were laden with bags as they walked toward the men. They looked a million credits in designer outfits and a beauty make over to die for. The Doctor hardly recognised her. She looked like a film star at an awards ceremony. She walked with a confidence he hadn't seen before, her face was radiant. What had they done to her at the spa?

The Doctor and Will stood up as the laughing women approached.

"That's my Will over there, the one with the beard and the cute smile," Deanna informed her.

"I know," said Rose. "Because the man he's with is the Doctor."

As the women came to the table Will leaned forward and kissed Deanna on the cheek. Rose followed her lead and positioned her cheek subtly to receive a kiss from the Doctor. He caught by surprise with this manoeuvre but was quick on the uptake and followed Wills lead and kissed her cheek.

"You look fantastic," he whispered in her ear while they were close.

"You don't look too bad yourself," she replied. "For a man who's seen nine hundred years." She had an impish grin on her face, with her tongue just sticking out between her teeth.

"Oi cheeky," he replied.

"Deanna," Will started. "May I introduce…"

"The Doctor I presume," she finished. Will raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"And Will," Deanna announced. "May I introduce..."

"Rose I presume." Will took her hand and kissed it in a natural, relaxed and charming fashion.

"Ooh, pleased to meet you." Rose had never had her hand kissed before.

The Doctor shook Deanna's hand; he felt he didn't have the style for hand kissing. From Will it was cool; from him it would be nerdy.

Deanna and Will sat down at the table and ordered a round of drinks. Will was telling Deanna all about the gift shop and showing her the present.

"Oh, Jean Luc will love it," she exclaimed.

The Doctor and Rose were still standing. He was holding both her hands away from her body and admiring her new look. She was wearing a pale blue, above knee designer dress and short jacket. Her hair was styled into a short 'bob'.

"Look at you," he exclaimed. "I can't believe how different you look." Her whole demeanour seemed to be different, more confident. Rose looked at Deanna and Deanna gave her a wink. Will noticed and raised an eyebrow, giving his fiancé an enquiring look. Deanna winked at him too.

'Uh-oh,' he thought. 'The poor guy doesn't stand a chance.'

Rose gave a twirl so the Doctor could better appreciate the new look. Laughing, they sat down at the table.

"Will tells me you're a Doctor of archaeology John." Deanna was looking at him with those soft, dark eyes. The Doctor felt a kind of 'buzzing' in his head.

"That's one of my PhD's," he replied. He was looking in to those dark eyes. "I also hold doctorates in history, quantum and temporal physics, chronology and horology."

"Horology?" inquired Will.

"The study of time pieces, from stone circles to atomic clocks," he replied. As he looked into Deanna's eyes he could feel something, not really buzzing, more like a butterflies wings.

Of course! He suddenly realised.

"You're an empath aren't you Deanna?" he asked her.

Her eyes opened wide. "Yes" she replied in surprise, "how did you know?"

"I can feel your empathic field. Very subtle, not probing, just listening on the edge of consciousness," he replied. "You're very good," he declared. "I nearly missed it."

"Does it bother you?" she asked.

"Oh no, not at all," he replied. "I've met all sorts of telepaths and empaths."

"Your mind is very disciplined; I can't feel anything from you," Deanna told him.

Rose tried to redirect the conversation back to normal chit-chat.

"Deanna uses her ability as a councillor," she cut in.

The Doctor smiled. "I should imagine you're very good at your job with a talent like that."

"Damn right," said Will grinning. "But there again, I am biased."

They all laughed and relaxed into friendly conversation. Will talked about star fleet, Deanna about her home world Betazed. Rose spoke of the worlds they had visited and the sights the Doctor had shown her. The Doctor joined in with Rose's conversation, adding details to her descriptions. Rose then remembered that she wanted to show the Doctor something.

"Do you want to see something amazing?" she asked him. "It was part of the make over." She reached into her purse and brought out a touch screen phone which she fiddled with and then said. "Ah, there it is."

She leaned over so that the Doctor could see the screen. There was a three-dimensional projection of Rose's head, as she flicked the screen a new hair style appeared on her virtual head.

"It's like one of those video games where you can create your own characters," she said. Will, Deanna and the Doctor hadn't got a clue what she was talking about.

"What do you think of that style?" she asked him. It was a neat 'rope' of hair plaited to form a pony tail.

"That suits you," the Doctor agreed.

She grinned. "Watch this." She touched the green tick on the screen and the men opened their mouths in unison. Her hair started to fall to her shoulders and then plait itself into the style on the handset.

Rose giggled. "Ooh that tickles."

Deanna was laughing at the expressions on their faces.

"What did the woman call them?" Rose asked herself. "Nanny fibres?"

"Nanofibres" corrected the Doctor. "Like the nanogenes on that Chula ship we encountered. Microscopic robots, apparently programmed by the hand set. Genius!" he exclaimed.

It had been a pleasant afternoon; however the time came for them to go their separate ways. The Doctor had enjoyed the company; he always enjoyed meeting new people (except when those new people were trying to kill him). It was part of the reason he travelled. They all stood up and walked away from the café.

"Come on then Rose," the Doctor said. "We'll head back to the hotel and have a rest before we go out this evening."

Rose's face lit up. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"Well," he started. "Over there," he pointed beyond a tall building. "Is a mountain. And on top of that mountain is a restaurant."

"Heaven's gate," said Deanna. "It's beautiful there," she added. "There's a dance floor, musicians, and chefs from across the galaxy come to show off their culinary skills."

Rose looked at the Doctor, her face full of excitement. "I can't wait."

The Doctor grinned. "Well what are we waiting for my dear, let us make haste," he said with a grin, and with that they said their goodbyes and left.


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: This chapter introduces one of the main antagonists, the alien from the predator movie created by Jim and John Thomas. There isn't much information out there for a back story on the Yautja, so I've created my own to fit the story. Apologies to Jim and John for taking liberties.  
The Doctor will rue the day he sets eyes on the Yautja in a later chapter.  
Rose and the Doctor will be back in the next chapter, getting it 'on' big style.

**Chapter 3**

**August 2378**

The jungle was hot and humid, the kind of heat that made a sauna feel cool and refreshing. Dappled, orange sunlight filtered through the forest canopy, forming a patchwork of light and dark patterns. Sounds from near and far travelled through the still air.

Takal-Atak wore his hunting vest, a net like garment with small skull trophies hanging off it, a utility belt and a wrist unit containing his double-bladed weapon. This was the only weapon allowed for his rite of passage.

He had tendrils on his head that hung down like dreadlocks, yellow eyes that could see into the infra-red and a set of external mandibles that made him look like an insect.

His induction into the warrior training began at birth when he swam to the edge of the birthing pool. Those that didn't make it to the edge, after being rescued would become the low-caste, servants to the warriors.

Takal-Atak had survived his childhood, just. He had nearly drowned, had nearly been eaten alive, nearly bled to death. He nearly starved to death, except he killed and ate a low caste servant. He got extra credit for that one.

Each time his life became endangered, he used his superior intelligence and physique to survive. Now his childhood was coming to an end, when he passed this test he would be a warrior and would then be given his first off world hunt with two other novices.

He had tracked a raptor since sunrise and had carefully got it to pick up his scent. The raptor thought it was the predator and an early lunch was on the way. The trick was to keep just the right distance ahead and move at just the right pace to keep it interested and confident.

Takal-Atak moved silently across a clearing and leapt up on to an overhanging branch. Although he was over two metres tall, he was able to move through the canopy easily and silently. He found a good place where he would be hidden from the raptor, and still be able to ambush it.

He leaned back against the tree and waited, his mind wandering for a moment. He remembered his first hunting trip with his father. Camping out in the mountains, learning how to track down the prey, the thrill of the chase, it was exciting. Little did he realise that he would not go home after the trip. He went to warrior school where he started his Spartan training. He learned reading, writing, arithmetic and martial arts to start with. Year on year they learned zoology, quantum physics, astrophysics, metallurgy, weapons technology as well as physical conditioning and strategy. It was tough, as hard as any special forces training, but he thrived on it, he was born a warrior.

The raptor came to the edge of the clearing and stopped. Takal-Atak knew it wouldn't break cover, instead it would move around the edge to pick up the scent on the other side. The animal moved off to its right into the undergrowth. He had read it correctly; the raptor would pass right underneath him. As it did so, he dropped silently on to its back, his weight momentarily buckling its powerful hind legs. He wrapped his arms around the long neck and held on as the raptor regained its feet and started to try to throw him off.

Like a bronco rider, he lurched from side to side and at one point he slammed against a tree, but he knew better than to let go. He anticipated the next move as the raptor dipped its head forward and brought the razor-sharp claws on its hind leg up to try to scrape him off. Twin blades extended from the wrist unit and severed the muscles and arteries on the inside of the leg. The raptor roared and fell to the ground, struggling with one hind leg and its small arms to try to find safety. But there was no safety.

Takal-Atak wrapped his powerful legs around the chest and held on to the head so that those vicious teeth didn't do him any harm. He looked into the eye closest to him and watched as the life ebbed away. Had he been a philosopher, he may have pondered what it might be like to experience death and the difference between life and death.

As it was though, how animals fought for life fascinated him, even when it was obvious that the fight was lost. The body stopped struggling and went limp.

He stood, tilted his head back and howled a triumphant cry into the forest. After gutting the animal to make it lighter, he lifted the animal on to his shoulders and began the walk back to camp.

The Elders were sat around a fire in the centre of the camp. Jamal-Nanak had already returned, He had caught a bear like animal and had deep gouges on his shoulder to show for it. He was explaining his tactics and how he had hunted, ambushed and finally killed it. The Elders were listening intently, nodding their heads at times. They inspected the kill to assess the accuracy of the strike and then removed it for preparation for the feast.

It was then Takal-Atak's turn to show his kill and describe how he had caught it. During his explanation, Garak-Salak returned carrying a large, venomous lizard on his shoulders. He waited in silence for his turn to show his prowess. The council of Elders were all in agreement that the novices had performed well. They would all feast well tonight and the venom from the lizard would be mixed with the blood of the animals to create an intoxicating beverage that everyone was looking forward to.

They had survived and they had passed. After their final training on the shoulder mounted plasma cannon and control visor, they would be allowed to go off world and earn their mark. There was much wrist grasping, embracing and after tending to their wounds, slapping of backs as everyone sat down for the feast.

* * *

It was on the night side of the planet when the cloaked ship descended through the atmosphere. It touched down in a river basin in a jungle.

The hunters liked jungles; they had plenty of things to hunt.

They assembled all their equipment, powered up and leapt out of the airlock and immediately separated and disappeared. They wouldn't see each other until they came back to the ship in two weeks, by which time they would have fully tested and familiarised themselves with their equipment.

After this workout they would be ready for a real hunt with real, challenging prey the kind of prey that could fight back and kill you, the kind that were in the eggs that they had brought with them.

Shaya loaded her canoe with the baskets containing her wares and slid the craft gently into the river. Kneeling in the centre, she turned and waved to her mother on the shore and started paddling down stream.

The river was wide and slow flowing as it made its way to the ocean. She was heading for the port at the mouth of the river where ships from far away lands came to trade for exotic spices and fruits that her village gather from the jungle.

She had made this journey many times, enjoying the peace and solitude of the river. Today though she had an uneasy feeling that something in the jungle was watching her. It was silly really, because day and night in the jungle you were continually watched by hundreds of eyes. There was something different, something she couldn't reason but could feel. A bird call in a tree made her jump. She looked over to the bank and in a tree halfway up was a small green figure, blending into the foliage.

It was her cousin, Korran. He waved at her and she waved back in a complex pattern that made her look like she was giving the odds at a horse race on earth. It was the sign language jungle folk used so as not to spook the animals nearby.

"How's the hunting?" she signalled. Korran held up a couple of squirrel like animals and shook his head.

"Some thing's spooked the animals. I'll try a bit further in, away from the river," he signed back.

She knew how they felt. "O.K, see you tonight."

She picked up the paddle and started again down stream.

Korran ran, jumped and swung silently through the branches like a 'free runner.' These were the streets and highways of his neighbourhood, and he knew them well. His hunting bow fit snug across his back and the arrows where down his left thigh so that he could move unhindered. It was the latest design of bow from across the water, made of composite wood and fibre. It had cost him many pelts but it was worth it, being lighter and more powerful than any bow he had seen before.

He came to an area where he could skip from branch to branch in a line across six different trees. He pushed off with the right foot and travelled a couple of metres through the air, landing on the left, then the right, left, right, le.. THUD! He didn't make the fifth branch, he'd hit something and was falling from the canopy.

Reflexes took over and he used twigs and vines to slow his descent. He hit the soft ground with a roll and into a crouch, his bow already off his back and in his hands with an arrow ready to shoot.

He was as still as a statue as he took stock of the situation. What had happened? Had that route become so familiar that he hadn't paid attention to another animal crossing his path? No. He had seen the air shimmering like a heat haze in front of him as he was about to land.

His senses were in overload as he sniffed the air. There was an unfamiliar odour in the air, a smell of machines and technology, like the steam ships that come from far off lands. His head moved in short, sharp movements, scanning the trees for anything unusual. His ears, high up on the side of his head, moved independently listening for any sound.

There!

His head spun and stopped facing the exact direction that the noise came from. It sounded like pebbles rolling around in an earthen pot. The lenses in his eyes adjusted to give a telephoto view of the trees in front of him. There it was again, that heat haze, but this time it did something he couldn't comprehend, it moved along the branch and dropped out of sight.

All his instincts were telling him to run, but his thoughts were telling him to investigate. His thoughts won and he silently moved forwards, keeping to the cover as much as possible. He reached the tree and pressed his back against it. The machine smell was stronger now, as he carefully moved around the tree.

There was a sudden sharp pain in his chest and he started to gasp for breath. His vision had gone blurred, no, there was something blurring his vision. The pain in his chest became more intense as he started to levitate.

This was impossible, how could he float? Then he found out. There was a sizzling noise and the blurring turned into a two metre tall, armour clad creature. Korran looked down to see a double-bladed dagger in his chest, attached to the forearm of the creature.

His breathing started to make a bubbling noise as he reached to his hip for his hunting knife. The creature produced a short, metallic baton with sharp ends and pointed one end at Korran. The impassive face mask tilted to one side slightly as it looked at him. The last thing he heard was a metallic 'shing' as the baton telescoped into a spear and threw him backwards and impaled him on a tree.

* * *

Shaya had returned from the port of Tambor early this time. She had traded her goods as soon as she got there and didn't spend too much time browsing the markets. There was talk from the other villages of the forest demon awakening. A group of them had set off early to get back while it was light. The small flotilla of canoes had dwindled as each in turn arrived at their village. Only Shaya and her friend Genila were left on the river.

Shaya had suggested that Genila stay at her village overnight and continue her journey in the morning. The look of relief on Genila's face said it all. There was something wrong with the jungle. If they had been paying attention to the jungle, they may have realised that a pair of alien eyes was watching them.

The village had a central communal hut, with a large circular hearth in the centre where the evening meal was cooked. Shaya found her mother at a table preparing some vegetables. Shaya gave her mother a big hug.

"What's all this in aid of?" her mother asked, returning the hug.

"Just glad to be back," she said. "I said Genny could stay over tonight. Is that all right?"

Her mother looked over to the teenager standing by the entrance."Of course it is," she told her. "How are you Genny? I haven't seen you or your folks since the mid-autumn festival."

"We're all fine thank you," Genila replied.

Shaya's mother smiled. "Make yourselves useful you two and grab a knife, there's some vegetables over there that need peeling." The girls went over to the next table and started chatting and peeling.

The meal was wholesome and filling. Some of the herbs that Shaya had brought back with her had been used to flavour the food, and everyone commented on how good the meal tasted.

After the meal, the villagers sat around the fire chatting and exchanging gossip. Children played games like marbles, jacks and a version of snakes and ladders, called lizards and vines.

Shaya realised that she hadn't seen her cousin, Korran all evening.

"Has anyone seen Korran this evening? I saw him this morning and he said he would be back," she said.

Her uncle chuckled. "You know what that lad of mine is like. He gets on the trail of an animal and forgets everything else. He's probably had to camp out 'til daylight," he said.

"That's if the demon hasn't had him first." There was a gasp from some of the assembled group. Standing in the entrance to the hut was a young man from the village.

"You hush up now Jarrad. You know them's tales for the young ones, to keep them from wandering off the trail in the jungle," Shaya's uncle said.

"Yes, that's right. That would be nice and cosy wouldn't it, if I hadn't seen one with my own eyes, not two days ago." He walked over to the fire and crouched down to gaze into the glowing embers.

"I had tracked down and caught a Garrach, a big one too. I had it over my shoulders, bringing it back to the village along the trail, when I realised I was being stalked." Jarrad stared into the remnants of the fire. An unnatural quiet came over the hut as people listened to his tale.

"I started to jog and then would stop suddenly and turn around. I knew there was something there, but I couldn't see it, not until the last time I stopped that is. It looked like a column of water shaped like a giant, as tall as me sat on your shoulders." He was looking up at Shaya's father. "When it stopped moving, it faded into the undergrowth."

"It was water dripping off leaves, or a swarm of insects or something," one of the villagers suggested.

"I thought of that, but that doesn't explain the noise it made," Jarrad said.

"What noise?" another asked. Jarrad looked around. He picked up some of the children's marbles and then walked over to a table.

"I think it was talking, cursing that I'd seen it," he said. He put the marbles in an earthenware pot and gently shook it so that it made a deep, resonant bubbling sound.

Shaya gasped. She ran to her parents for comfort. "I heard it! This morning on the river."

Other villagers slowly spoke up and admitted that they had heard this noise in the jungle over the last couple of weeks. Korran's father walked slowly to the entrance of the hut and looked out into the darkness.

Unseen, the darkness looked back.

It was day break and the early morning rain was easing, soon Garak-Salak would be able to start hunting. The rain made his invisibility shield sparkle a little, making it a more difficult to sneak up on the wildlife.

As the rain eased, he made his way towards the river to fill his water flask. Stooping down, he held the flask in the water while looking across at the far bank. Suddenly to his left there was a noise. He turned his head quickly to look along the bank where he was crouched. A large ambush predator that had been just below the surface had jumped out of the river and was nearly on him.

As he had turned his head, the plasma cannon on his shoulder had matched the movement. Three red dots from the targeting lasers had converged on the gaping mouth and the head of the creature disintegrated in a flash of blue-white light.

'Damn,' he thought to himself. 'that would have made a great trophy.'

Jamal-Nanak was returning from a night hunt were he had been trying out the advanced equipment in the helmet. Although he could see into the infra red, the helmet enhanced the night vision and gave a head up display of range, direction and useful data like that.

At night he didn't need the invisibility shield so he could hunt in the rain and the audio filters silenced the noise of the rain so that he could hear animals moving through the undergrowth.

He had climbed up to the platform in his tree which he had fashioned out of branches, twigs and leaves. It had a low roof of intertwined, broad leaves and was dry and cosy.

He was just settling down for some sleep when he saw the blue-white flash in the distance against the twilight of the dawn sky. Technically, he smiled to himself, although with the external mandibles it was difficult to tell. He knew one of them had just used their plasma cannon.

Takal-Atak was on the ground, stalking a sabre toothed bear like animal when his wrist device activated the reminder that the two weeks was up and it was time to return to the ship. The bear turned and looked in his direction, but with the invisibility shield active it couldn't see him.

Takal-Atak shrugged his shoulders and headed back to camp to pack his belongings. It was a short jog to the tree and he climbed up to the platform and gathered his trophies and equipment. He then moved carefully through the jungle back towards the river, where the ship was waiting.

When he got to the clearing, he scanned the area with his helmet sensors to check for life forms. It was all clear and he touched a control on his wrist device. A hole appeared in mid air as the airlock door opened and descended to the ground to form a ramp up into the ship.

He was the first one back. He ascended to the flight deck and powered up the ship in preparation for their departure. He then went to his locker and stowed his gear, carefully packing his trophies for safe keeping.

He was holding the skull from the hunter that he had bumped into a few days ago, remembering the encounter and how the hunter had fought.

He heard the airlock door open below and voices coming up the passage. So, they had all made it. Good, now the real hunt would begin, with intelligent, sophisticated prey and a predator that could fight back.

There was arm clasping and back slapping as they greeted each other and swapped stories of their time in the jungle.


	4. Chapter 4

Notes: A meal, a dance and a seduction. Rose pours her heart out and the Doctor gets the wrong idea. (Idiot!)

Chapter 4

The Heavens Gate restaurant was a transparent dome-shaped building sitting on top of the mountain. The views were spectacular from this vantage point. It was a popular venue for tourists, and tables were difficult to book.

The Doctors psychic paper was invaluable in securing not only a table, but probably the best table in the house.

The maître D led them to their table, paying them what Rose thought was an undue amount of attention.

The Doctor was wearing a formal Risan dinner suit that Rose had bought for him earlier in the day. It pleased her when he said he liked it, she hadn't bought any clothes for him before and wasn't sure if it was to his taste.

It was oriental in style with a mandarin collar and kaftan style long shirt, embroidered with traditional Risan patterns. She said it made him look like a noble emperor.

Rose however, had been secretive about her outfit. She was looking for the 'wow' effect when she finally revealed what she was wearing. Over her secret outfit she was wore a long black cape with a hood that had a deep purple lining.

As they got to the table the maître D said. "May I take your cape Madam?"

Rose smiled and undid the clasp at the neck. "Thank you," she said and with one elegant movement took off the cape.

The effect was just what she had hoped for. The Doctor's jaw dropped and his eyes were wide.

Rose was apparently wearing a liquid metal foil cocktail dress. It was short and backless and flowed around the curves of her body as though it was going to run off her body but never quite doing it.

"Ho-ho, look at you!" He couldn't take his eyes off that dress. "I've never seen anything like it," he said, and apparently neither had anyone else in the restaurant.

Rose quickly glanced around. The women had envious looks on their faces while all the men looked on in admiration.

"I take it you approve then?" she asked.

"Oh yes. Very nice," he grinned. The maître D held the chair for Rose to sit down and they both took their places at the table.

The meal was an experience that Rose would never forget. All the courses were perfectly cooked, the flavours blended and contrasted perfectly.

She would never have believed food could taste like this, and after tonight eating out would never be the same again. The Doctor was enjoying watching her expressions as she sampled each new course, if her eyes got any larger they'd pop out of her head.

Finishing with the Ktarian chocolate puffs that Deanna had recommended, they sat back in their chairs making appreciative sighing noises.

A string quartet had been playing background music all night that was a subtle blend of classical and traditional folk music. The maître D announced guests could now take to the dance floor if they wished.

Rose saw the Doctor's eye brows rise as he was about to ask her to dance, when a voice behind her asked. "May I have this dance Madam?" She turned her head and saw the grinning face of William Riker.

"Will. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"We reserved a table when we first arrived on Risa, we didn't say anything because we wanted to surprise you," he answered. Deanna came up beside him.

"I suppose you booked on-line before you came," Deanna said.

"Err; yes that's right," the Doctor replied quickly. "On-line."

Rose stood up and turned to Will. "I'd love to dance," she said. "But first I need to change." She reached into her purse and pulled out the touch pad phone.

"Watch this," she said. Her metallic dress flowed into an elegant ball gown, with a slit up her left thigh to allow free movement when she danced.

Both Will and the Doctor looked on in admiration as the poly mimetic alloy dress turned her into a Greek goddess.

She gave a little wiggle of her bottom. "That tickles as well," she giggled. She took Will's hand and they stepped on to the dance floor.

The Doctor turned to Deanna and held out his hand. "May I have this dance Madam?" he asked with his boyish grin.

"Why thank you kind sir," she replied.

Rose faced Will and confessed that she had never done any ballroom dancing before, except a little dance with the Doctor on the TARDIS.

"TARDIS?" asked Will.

"The Doctors ship," she replied. She had watched Strictly Come Dancing on a Saturday night with her mum sometimes, but never dreamed she'd be doing it for real 90 light years from home.

"There's nothing to it Rose," Will explained as a Latin-American style beat started up.

"We hold hands like this, and put the other hand on each others hip," Will explained.

He taught her to feel the beat and sway her hips to the rhythm. Rose soon got the feel for it and Will soon had her twirling around the floor.

The Doctor and Deanna by comparison were 'tripping the light fantastic' around the floor. The Doctor twirled Deanna, held her around the waist and leaned her backwards as he leaned over her. They were both grinning and started laughing.

"You're a good dancer John," Deanna said as they moved back to vertical.

"I had a good teacher back on Earth," he replied. Back in the 1940's on Earth a young up and coming dancer named Fred Astaire had given him some lessons in return for introducing him to a film producer.

The music finished and during the pause, people moved back to their tables for a quick drink before starting the next dance.

During the evening some traditional Risan dancers came to teach a Risan form of line dancing. They would demonstrate and then let people have a go themselves.

The result was hilarious; people were turning left when they should have stepped forward, stepped back when they should have stepped right. The Doctor saw Rose going past on his left as Will came grinning from the right. It did give you chance to meet new people, if only briefly.

The music ended and again everyone applauded the band and the folk dancers. Another drink at the table and it was time for the next dance. This continued until it was the last dance.

The band started to play a slow, 'smoochie' number. The Doctor and Rose moved in close as they danced. He caught the eye of the maître D and nodded.

The lights dimmed slowly and imperceptibly until it was possible to see the view outside the dome. The Doctor held Rose around the waist, twirled with her and leaned her backwards as he had with Deanna.

Rose looked upwards and gasped. "Oh my God."

Across the sky was a dim gaseous nebula illuminated by new stars being formed within. It was similar to the aurora Borealis on Earth but on a grander scale. The Doctor lifted her up, her eyes never moved off the spectacle above their heads.

"It's, it's..." She couldn't find any words to describe it.

"Magnificent? Beautiful? Gorgeous?" he suggested, looking at Rose as he said it. Rose took her eyes off the celestial light show and looked in to his dark eyes. Was he saying that about the night sky, or about her?

"All of the above," she said, smiling.

"I know," he said. "It's one of my favourite views." He nodded at the maître D again and a waitress brought Rose's cape over to them.

"Here, put this on," he said and they walked over to the door and stepped outside. The air had an icy chill that was not unpleasant. The whole sky was alight with wispy luminous clouds and denser areas that formed patterns across the sky. They held one other close against the cold.

"The Risan's call it Gods Garden," he explained. Rose continued to gaze up at the celestial show, turning her body with the Doctor's to view it from horizon to horizon. They started to dance slowly around the balcony until the music stopped, and waltzed back into the restaurant.

People were preparing to leave; some were already shimmering on the transporter pads. Squadrons of sky taxis were arriving to take those who wanted to enjoy the view on their way home.

The maître D approached them. "Thank you for gracing our humble establishment with your presence, your Highnesses," he said with a bow.

Rose's mouth fell open. "Highness?" she started to question as the Doctor quickly cut in.

"The Princess and I have had a wonderful evening. Please pass on our compliments to your serving staff, the chefs and the musicians." He winked at Rose with a big grin on his face.

The maître D's face beamed with pride as he bowed again and moved away.

"Princess?" is all Rose could say as Deanna and Will walked over, arm in arm. No wonder the maître D had been fawning over them all evening.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Deanna asked Rose.

Rose grinned. "I don't think I have laughed so much in my life," she replied. "Especially when you got lost in the crowd of dancers," she said to the Doctor.

"I was the only one in the right place, it was everybody else that were in the wrong place," he replied with a grin.

They all laughed again as they remembered the chaotic dance.

"We must do this again sometime," Will said.

"That would be great," said Rose. She hoped to get more advice from Deanna.

Will reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a card. "Here, have my card. Just wave it over a multimedia screen or e-pad and it will connect a call," he said.

The Doctor took the card and inspected it. "Neat," he said.

The men shook hands and the women kissed. Will and Deanna stepped on to the transporter pad, waved and faded away.

Rose had wanted to take a taxi back to the hotel to enjoy the view. Also Deanna had advised her that prolonged physical contact might 'stir' the Doctor's feelings for her.

This taxi was a private, two-seater with reclining seats and a transparent roof. They lay back and enjoyed the view, chatting and laughing about the evening as the taxi cruised near the speed of sound.

Rose reached over and held his hand. Somehow it always felt that her hand was meant to be in his. The Doctor turned to her and smiled. She 'snuggled' close and rested her head against his shoulder as they lay there in silence marvelling at the celestial splendour above them.

The taxi soon landed on the roof of the hotel. The penthouse suite had its own landing pad and suite access.

They tumbled out of the taxi, still laughing and staggered into their apartment. Rose held on to the Doctors arm as she looked around at the opulent surroundings.

The penthouse was an open plan, 'L' shaped room with a lounge area that led to a balcony that overlooked the city. Opposite the balcony was a breakfast bar and kitchen area. Around the corner was the bedroom with en-suite bathroom. The carpets were luxurious with a deep pile. The furniture was luxurious and incredibly comfortable.

"How does a shop assistant from a council estate in Peckham end up 90 light years from home, living the high life?" she asked.

He looked down at her. "You had the good fortune to meet a lonely old man with a time machine," he grinned.

Still holding his arm she snuggled closer. "And are you still lonely?" she asked him.

"Not any more," he replied.

Okay then, it was time for her to get the Doctor to realise what he's got. She turned to face him, looking in to those gorgeous brown eyes.

"Doctor?" she started to ask. "Can I talk to you about something?"

He heard the hesitation in her voice and saw the uncertainty in her eyes. "What is it Rose? You know you can always talk to me" he told her, frowning.

"Can I though?" she responded. "We talk, but you never say anything. You seem to talk 'at' people rather than 'to' them."

The Doctor was taken off guard. What had brought this on? "I... I'm sorry. I didn't realise" he stammered. He ran his fingers through his hair and tugged at his ear.

Rose could see the confusion and hurt in his eyes. "Don't get me wrong," she said quickly. "I love the sound of your voice, the way you babble on about everything and nothing, it fills me with happiness. But sometimes we need to say things."

The Doctor regained his composure and smiled. "What is it you want to talk about, I promise not to babble. Well not too much anyway. Well not at all if…"

Rose cleared her throat. "Well, it was when I met Sarah Jane for the first time," she started. Sarah Jane Smith had been a travelling companion a long time ago, when he was someone else.

Her voice took on a sad, distant inflection. "Do you remember when you said I could spend the rest of my life with you but you couldn't spend the rest of yours with me?"

He nodded, sadness filling his eyes. People seemed to come and go in his life. He suppressed the memory of his wife, his daughter, his grand-daughter. He didn't want Rose to know the pain of his past lives. She was building up to something, something he had been dreading for a while now, but he hadn't expected it to come this soon.

"Yes, I remember," he whispered, his voice breaking.

Rose continued. "You said humans decay. We wither and we die while you have to live on." She could feel tears burning her eyes. "And then you asked me to imagine that happening to someone you…" Her eyes searched his imploringly. "You never finished that sentence."

The Doctor shook his head. "No I didn't," he agreed. He couldn't. He had taught himself to suppress his feelings, his emotions. He protected himself from harm by building a 'bubble' of indifference around himself.

'So this was it!' He thought. 'She has decided to leave me'. The muscles in his jaw twitched as he held himself in control.

Rose continued. "It's not fair," she moaned. "It's just not fair. You shouldn't have to watch people you care about wither and die. You shouldn't have to be alone and be unloving when there is someone here who…" She faltered, and then in a whisper, finished the sentence he couldn't. "Who loves you."

There. She'd said it. It was out in the open. Now he knew how she felt.

"When we said goodbye to Sarah Jane in the TARDIS?" she said. "I asked her if it was worth it. You know, the pain of leaving, the worrying about you, wondering if she would ever see you again."

The Doctor had a distant look in his eyes as he remembered. He had travelled with many companions, always enjoying their company but never letting them get close. They travelled with him for the adventure and excitement, and when they'd had enough, they would leave.

Rose though was different. There was something about her innocence and vulnerability mixed with her feistiness and determination. It was very appealing.

She had come along because of him. When he said to her 'You could come with me, if you like.' Rose had heard his unspoken plea 'Please come with me, I'm vulnerable and all alone.' She had managed to puncture his 'bubble' and it was starting to deflate.

'Hang on! Did she just say that she loved him? Why tell him now when she was leaving?'

"Do you want to know what Sarah Jane said?" she asked, interrupting his thoughts. "Without hesitation she said it was worth it. She told me some things are worth getting your heart broken for."

She continued to look into his sad, confused eyes. This was the big gamble now, Deanna had advised her about this part of the conversation. She would either enjoy the rest of her holiday or be back on the Powell estate tomorrow.

She reached in to her purse and pulled out the touch screen handset and wiped a tear from her cheek before she tried to continue.

The Doctor groaned. He wasn't sure he could go on without her. "Rose, no, no, no, please. Not now. I thought we were doing okay you and me."

'Wow! Deanna was right,' Rose thought. 'This brave, courageous man is terrified of his feelings. Yes we are doing okay, but we could be doing unbelievably fantastic.'

Her voice trembled with emotion as she spoke. "I know you don't do emotions or relationships but I have to say this. You have to hear me out Doctor, my gorgeous Doctor. My amazing Time Lord. I'm giving you my heart. It's yours to keep and hopefully cherish."

She pressed the red cross on the display. "I hope you don't break it, but I'm willing to take the risk, because I think it'll be worth spending the rest of my life with you. What do you think?"

Her metallic dress started to melt. It ran down her body, down her legs. Her shoes dissolved into the neat little round puddle at her feet.

She held out the handset. "The green tick puts my dress back on," she informed him.

He took the handset from her trembling hand and looked intently at the display. It was then that the realisation hit him. "What?!.. No?!.. You mean?.. I?.. We?.." He slapped his forehead.

"Oh my stupid brain!" For a super-intelligent alien genius, he could be thick sometimes.

"You mean you're not leaving?" he asked her hopefully.

Now it was her turn to be confused. "Leave? When I have just poured my heart out to you and taken all my clothes off? Why would I leave?"

The Doctor eyed her 'fit' body, really noticing it for the first time. Rose saw his appreciative gaze and suddenly became self conscious of her nakedness. She was giving herself to him. She wanted to show him her commitment to him by baring her soul, and her body. She started to blush.

The Doctor was in turmoil. Did he dare to love her? Could he love her? His brain started its own internal babble.

'Oh come on! Of course you can love her! What am I saying, you already love her you idiot. You faced the wrath of her mother and still stood by her. I knew this day would come didn't I. Yes and you've been denying it.'

Rose watched his eyes and facial expressions reflecting the internal conversation. Finally he was 'back in the room' and focussed on her with a new intensity.

"Oh, Rose. Are you sure? Are you really sure you want to be with me? I keep getting us into trouble, into danger," he said as he ran his hand through his hair again.

She smiled at him through the tears in her eyes. "That's why I love you. You never think of yourself when people need you, you just help them." She paused. "Help me, I need you," she whispered simply.

He looked at her, the sadness gone from his eyes and replaced with amazement and hope. "It's Hobson's choice," he said.

He realised that since Rose stepped into the TARDIS he would lose her. If he presses the green tick he loses her tonight. If he doesn't, he loses her sometime in the future.

"Rose Tyler," he smiled. "My beautiful, fantastic Rose. You're brilliant! I can see it all now. It's a catch twenty-two. I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't. I lose you now or I lose you later, and I'm damned if I'm going to lose you now Rose Tyler."

Rose heard the words 'losing you' but it took a moment to understand what he was saying. He was grinning at her, nodding as the penny dropped.

She gave a laugh. "Yes!" she cried. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a passionate kiss on the lips. He grasped her naked body and pulled her in close, returning the kiss with the same intense passion.

They finished their embrace and she started to unbutton his shirt. He held her hands gently and rested his forehead against hers. He looked deep into her beautiful brown eyes.

"You are certain you want to do this?" he asked.

"I have never been more certain of anything in my whole life." She slipped the shirt off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Her hands caressed his chest and his abdomen on their way down to his trousers.

"It's been over a century since I've done anything like this," he told her.

She kissed his chest as she unfastened his trousers and they slid down to join his shirt.

"I'll be gentle with you," she said with a cheeky grin, the tip of her tongue poking between her teeth. She always did that when she was teasing him.

Their hands caressed and explored each others bodies as they kissed and embraced. Rose's hands slid inside his shorts and gripped his buttocks, lightly scratching with her fingernails. Her hands moved around his hips and gently helped the shorts on their way down to the floor.

The Doctor stepped backwards out of his clothes so that he was standing naked except for a pair of red trainers. Rose couldn't help but laugh. He kicked off the trainers and realised he still had the touch screen handset.

"You do realise that giving this to me was a bad idea, don't you?" he grinned at Rose.

"Laugh at my trainers would you." With that he pressed the green tick on the screen and started flicking through the various outfits on offer. The circular puddle of mimetic poly alloy poured itself up her body and suddenly she was wearing her ball gown again.

She squealed with laughter. "That tickles," she protested.

"Okay. Try this then," he said. Suddenly she was wearing a tight-fitting cat suit.

"Stop it!" she laughed. She then found her bust being pushed upwards by a corset.

"Hey, they've got fancy dress on here as well," he laughed.

A pair of metallic scallop shells formed over her breasts, as her legs were pulled together. She lost her balance and grabbed the Doctor and they both fell on to the bed, laughing uncontrollably.

Rose looked down between the sea shells to see a mermaid's tail where her legs used to be. She squealed with laughter again and started flapping on the bed like a stranded fish.

She managed to wriggle on top him, grab the handset and press the red cross. She kissed him hard and he returned it. They rolled over as the liquid metal formed a silvery waterfall off the end of the bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Notes: This short chapter introduces another antagonist to the story, the Borg. Thanks to Memory Alpha again for the reference information. ( /wiki/Portal:Main)

**Chapter 5**

**November 2378**

The Cardassian warship Ducat was a Galor-class warship, a medium-sized cruiser and the most powerful vessel in Cardassian service. It was half way through its tour of duty patrolling the borders of Cardassian territory.

Well, it wasn't so much a border as more a fuzzy area of interest. If a planet was found that had a valuable resource, it suddenly lay within Cardassian territory, regardless of whether anyone already lived there.

Predatory in nature, Cardassians are like wolves, always seeking a dominant position in social gatherings. Even in normal courting behaviour, Cardassian couples routinely act bitter and snap at one other.

Cardassian society generally exhibits little or no gender bias; both men and women rising to high ranks in the military. However, some fields are not so diverse, as the scientific community is mostly female.

When the long-range sensors detected an intruder within the border of Cardassian space, they were guilty of trespass and justice would be swift.

In Cardassian criminal trials, the defendant is guilty and in fact the punishment is already decided before the trial begins; the purpose of the trial is merely to help the defendant acknowledge his wrongdoing.

The Gul, or captain, of the Ducat was young and ambitious, not very experienced but very capable. He was tall, with black hair, scaly, almost reptilian skin and thick shoulder ridges that blended into a wide neck.

He was a fine example of Cardassia's educational system, renowned throughout the quadrant. From a very young age, Cardassian children train in techniques such as photographic memory which allows them to retain vast amounts of information.

Cardassian mental disciplines are so complete that a Cardassian will prove almost totally resistant to torture; a Vulcan mind meld is also usually ineffective against a properly trained Cardassian.

He gave the order to set an intercept course and leaned back in the command chair. At warp six, they should intercept the intruder in 17 minutes. The science officer, however, told him 8. The intruder was coming straight for them, and he was big:very big and cube shaped.

"Captain, we are being hailed," the communications officer told him.

"On screen," he commanded as he stood up and stepped forwards. A pale, grey humanoid with a prosthetic eye and tubes coming out of his head and neck appeared on the main view screen.

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

The voice sounded almost mechanical, not threatening or arrogant, just a cold statement of fact. The Captain looked at the grey, emotionless face on the screen.

The Galor class are the backbone of the Cardassian fleet being armed with large plasma cannons. They are also armed with numerous secondary phaser cannons mounted at other points across the hull, also they carry a complement of photon torpedoes.

"Prepare the plasma cannons, arm photon torpedoes. Let's show these Borg how we do things around here."

* * *

Federation Database:

Heading: The Borg.

Sub Heading: Description.

The Borg are a pseudo-race of cybernetic beings, or cyborgs, from the Delta Quadrant. No truly single individual exists within the Borg Collective (with the possible sole exception of the Borg Queen), as they are linked into a hive mind.

Their ultimate goal is perfection through the forcible assimilation of diverse sentient species, technologies, and knowledge. As a result, they are among the most powerful and feared races in the galaxy.

End.

* * *

The Borg cube moved away silently, leaving the scattered debris of the Ducat behind. Of the 300 or so crew, only 56 survived. If they had been able to, the survivors would have wished for the same fate as the rest of the crew.

The nano probes injected into their bodies entered their brains and effectively put them under remote control. They were now condemned to a living hell.

Borg drones, zombies, their free will pushed to the side while being forced to serve their new master.

The trillions of voices sharing their minds, day in, day out, would eventually drive them insane. Not that anyone would know, because they were now Borg, with no personal identity.

They lay motionless on tables while other drones and robotic systems removed parts of limbs and an eye so that cybernetic inserts and attachments could be fitted.

If they felt any pain, they didn't show it, and if they did feel pain, it didn't matter, they couldn't show it if they wanted to.

The cube's transwarp drive started and it entered hyperspace to continue its mission to seek out new life and new civilizations, and assimilate them.

* * *

Federation Database:

Heading: The Borg.

Sub Heading: Physiology

The physiology of each Borg drone varies according to the species assimilated.

Drones are typically humanoid, although the Collective has demonstrated a willingness to assimilate non-humanoid life forms.

When assimilated, a drone ceases to grow body hair and develops an ashen, greyish skin coloration, ignoring original skin pigmentation.

Cybernetic implants are either surgically attached to the body or grown internally by nanoprobes injected into the bloodstream. The nature of these implants vary from drone to drone, depending on its intended function, but basic nodes of cordical, interlink & cortical array are present in every drone.

Sometimes amputation of body parts, such as an eye or an arm, is necessary to make room for the cybernetics. The implants of a fully assimilated drone allow it to function for extended periods without shelter, food, water, or even air.

A drone's only requirement is a supply of energy to support the implants that in turn maintain its biological functions. The supply of energy occurs during regeneration cycles within a Borg alcove.

On receiving damage, a drone would return to the cove for assessment of the damage. Severely damaged drones are disassembled and scavenged for reusable parts.

Borg drones have a myriad technologies integrated into their bodies which enable them to perform their duties within the Collective, several of which were universal to all drones. A neural transceiver keeps them connected to the hive mind.

A personal force field protects each drone from most energy-based attacks. Each drone possesses a pair of assimilation tubules embedded in one hand for instantly injecting individuals with Borg nanoprobes.

A cortical processor allows a drone to assimilate visual information rapidly. Borg drones are also equipped with a neural processor, which keeps a record of every instruction that particular Borg receives from the collective hive mind.

Drones also contain failsafes designed to deactivate and even vaporize their own bodies, thereby allowing the Collective to eliminate damaged or dead drones without leaving remains to be exploited by outsiders.

One of these fail safes automatically deactivates a drone experiencing strong emotional states, which the Borg interpreted as a sign of disconnection from the hive mind.

End.


	6. Chapter 6

Notes: This short chapter introduces another antagonist to the story, the Borg. Thanks to Memory Alpha again for the reference information. ( /wiki/Portal:Main)

**Chapter 6**

"Rose?... Rose?... ROSE?" She could hear her name being called as if in a dream.

She fluttered her eyes open and in the dim light could see her old travelling companion; her new lover leaning over her. His hair looked more dishevelled than ever, she didn't think that was possible. He had a bead of sweat on the end of his nose and he looked concerned.

"Are you alright? You had me worried there for a while."

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" she asked him.

"You passed out when we,.. well you know," he told her.

Her face looked at first shocked then amazed. "Oh my God. I did, didn't I?" Her eyes were wide in wonder. "How the hell did that happen?" she asked.

The only answer she got was a grin like a Cheshire cat.

When they had started to make love, he did something he had never done with Rose before. He reached out with his mind and felt her psyche.

He hadn't read her mind, that was private and it would be rude to intrude. It was more like reading the expression on someone's face to see how they were feeling.

He could feel the ebb and flow, ebb and flow, ebb and flow of her rising orgasm and coordinated his movements to match.

Then something remarkable happened. Their bodies synchronised, creating a resonance that magnified each movement, each sensation. Three hearts beating as one, time, space, Rose and the Doctor in perfect harmony, they climbed to the summit of their mounting climax.

And then they leapt off in to the abyss of ecstasy.

Rose made a noise that sounded like a squeak, gasp and growl rolled into one as her brain literally exploded with pleasure, causing her to faint from an excess of endorphins and a lack of oxygen.

The Doctors two hearts had managed to keep him conscious even though he was dizzy with ecstasy.

Rose was still light-headed but managed to regain her composure. She carefully sat up and pushed the Doctor over on to his back. She straddled him and leant forward pushing his shoulders into the bed.

"OK my Lord of Time, you've shown me how the lads on Gallifrey do it, now I'm going to show you how the girls on Earth do it," she growled, a mischievous grin on her face and eyes full of desire. The Doctor lay back and took his medicine like a man.

* * *

It was dark in the bedroom of the penthouse suite, even though it was nearly midday and the suns were high in the sky. The polychromatic glass was still tinted dark so that the occupants could enjoy a 'lie in'.

The Doctor floated on his back with Rose nestled under his arm with her head on his chest. He looked down at her sleeping form and reflected on the last few days. He had not felt like this about someone for over a century, and it felt good.

He knew it wouldn't last, he would eventually out live her, but that didn't matter right now.

Rose started to wake and yawned. She looked up at him with those large brown eyes and smiled.

"Good morning stud," she said, kissing his chest. He kissed her forehead.

"Only just morning, it's nearly lunch time. Fancy a brunch?" he asked her. He picked up the e-pad and ordered room service.

Rose used the e-pad to browse the local pages on Risa, although she could browse any network in the universe in any time period. The Doctor had upgraded it the same way he had upgraded her phone.

"It says here that Risa is known as the pleasure planet. Apparently, they practically invented sex." She did the old gag of tilting her head to the side as she looked at the screen.

"Ooh, we'll have to try that one," she said with a grin on her face. The door went 'ding dong' as the food trolley arrived.

"Saved by the bell," the Doctor said with a laugh.

They sat in bed eating toast covered in a spiced honey and drinking Risan herb tea. Some of the spiced honey dripped on to the Doctors chest.

"Here, let me get that," Rose said as she leaned over and licked it off his chest. She looked up and saw him grinning down at her.

She leaned back and picked up the half empty jar off the tray and put it on the bedside table. "Are you in for a treat later on," she told him with a wink and the tongue through the teeth smile.

The robotic trolley was a regular visitor to the apartment for the rest of the day as the Doctor and Rose stayed in bed.

The Doctor got out of bed and went to the bathroom for a quick shower. Rose's tongue was very efficient, but he was covered in a sticky residue.

Rose continued to browse with the e-pad. As he came out of the bathroom, he saw her lying there on the bed.

"Rose, don't move," he told her.

"What? Why? What is it?" She thought he'd seen a Risan spider or something.

"Watch this," he said with a grin. He ran at the bed and dived in to the air. The anti gravity field caught him and suspended him in the air above Rose. He slowly started to descend with his hands behind his head.

"Look, no hands." Rose reached up and undid the belt of his bathrobe.

"Keep those hands there mister," she ordered as she wriggled to place herself underneath him. Their bodies and lips gently made contact.

"You know, when I first woke up on this zero-gravity bed I didn't like it, but now I love it," she told him.

"I remember NASA once sent married astronauts up in the space shuttle. Everyone knew it was to try zero-gravity sex, but NASA refused to comment, which meant it had to be true," she said with a little giggle.

The Doctor gave her his best cheeky grin and waggled his eyebrows. "Do you want to try?" he asked her.

"Do I?!" she replied enthusiastically, returning his grin.

"Reach over to my jacket and pass me the sonic screwdriver," he asked her.

Rose rolled away from him and leaned across to the chair. The Doctor took the opportunity to admire her lithe back and pert buttocks.

"All that running from danger has kept you in good shape," he told her.

"Thank you," she said simply as she rolled back with screwdriver in hand. "That was a lovely compliment."

"Considering you're human," he finished. She shot him a look and saw him grinning that boyish grin. He was teasing her.

It had been their second journey together to 19th century Cardiff (it was supposed to be London). Rose had dressed up in an off the shoulder evening gown and put her hair up.

It was the first time he'd seen her out of her jeans and pink huddie and realised she was a beautiful young woman.

Only the big eared, leather jacketed idiot had to say 'considering you're a human' which sort of deflated the compliment.

Rose playfully slapped his shoulder. "I'll ignore that last bit," she said with a smile.

He finished fiddling with the sonic screwdriver and said. "Going up."

The screwdriver started to emit a warbling whistle as they started to float upwards. They were now half way between the floor and the ceiling.

Rose giggled and reached out to grab the Doctor behind the neck and pulled him close, wrapping her right leg around his.

He let go of the screw driver and tapped it gently with his finger, sending it into a slow cart-wheel as he put his hands around her waist.

They kissed as the Doctor started to say. "We need," (kiss) "To hold on," (kiss) "To each other," (kiss) "Or we'll drift," (kiss) "Apart." (kiss)

"Don't worry," (kiss) "I'm not going," (kiss) "Anywhere," she replied.

Feeling that his body was ready for her, she pulled out of the kiss and held the Doctors shoulders. Her hair had floated up and formed a blonde halo around her head. She looked like an angel.

Silently she looked at him with a calm desire in her eyes as she lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist. Her right hand cradled the back of his neck, while the other rested in the small of his back.

Both of the Doctor's hands were making an acquaintance with the pert bottom he had admired earlier.

Rose closed her eyes as they kissed. She opened her eyes briefly to admire her lover when she was overcome by a wave of motion sickness.

The floor was now where the ceiling should be. The movement of her hips had started a slow rotation and they were now upside down.

This gave her an idea. She had seen a manoeuvre on the Risan website and thought that it looked technically too difficult to do in a bed. In their current situation however it should be a piece of cake.

Breathlessly she whispered in his ear. "Hold still, I want to try something."

She reached across with her right arm and grabbed him under his right arm, leaning to her left. She started a counter-clockwise rotation as he rotated clockwise. They both shuddered with pleasure as parts of their intimate anatomy brushed together at unusual angles.

The Doctor saw her feet drift past and kissed each one as he felt Rose doing the same to his. As they came back face to face, they kissed each other hungrily as they locked into a climactic embrace. Rose let out a cry as a guttural groan escaped the Doctors throat.

They continued their slow rotation together for what seemed an eternity. Their bodies entwined, glistening with perspiration. A shudder ran down the Doctors spine as she gently nibbled his ear and breathed, "We HAVE to get one of these for the TARDIS."

"Your wish is my command," he whispered back.

* * *

With the bed returned to normal, they watched a beautiful suns set through the large patio doors, chatting about anything and everything when Rose mentioned when they had first met.

"Do you remember when you first held my hand?" she asked him.

"Of course I do," he answered. "Why?"

"Well, when we make love, I feel something that I felt back then. Not the cliché 'electric shock', but something that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. In the basement of Henrik's, I thought it was because I was in danger and about to die."

He looked at her in amazement. "You felt that?!"

Rose now looked a bit worried. "What? You felt it too? What was it?" she asked him.

He tilted his head back and gave a laugh. "Rose Tyler you really are amazing," he told her. "Will you ever stop surprising me?"

"That, my dear Rose was a convergence. Our time-lines merged and generated a fixed point in time. I feel them all the time. You probably felt that one because it was my time-line and it had more energy than most. In fact, that's why I was there. I could feel my time line leading me to something important, and that was you."

He stroked her hair as he thought back to their first encounter. "That's why I told you to forget about me and get on with your life. I knew it would be dangerous for you."

Rose eased up and kissed him on the cheek. "Ahh, that's so sweet," she told him.

"But as usual with fixed points that you humans call fate or destiny, telling you to forget me brought about a series of events that had the opposite effect."

He had another small laugh. "If I'd told you I was from MI5 or the SAS and had foiled a terrorist plot, you wouldn't have thought any more about it. You'd have been telling your mates in the pub about it for months." Rose giggled about that, he was right.

"No, I had to tell you I was the Doctor, this mysterious, shadowy character that didn't want to be noticed. I might as well had business cards and flyers printed. Me and my big mouth."

They both laughed at that one, he was right again.

"Well I'm glad you did, 'cause I'm here now and I wouldn't have it any other way." Rose turned his chin towards her and gently kissed his lips.

"And, it's you and your gorgeous, sensuous big mouth," she corrected.

"And it's you humans and that bloody curiosity of yours," he said, tickling her ribs and making her squeal.

The Doctor picked up the e-pad and swiped Will Rikers card across the screen. A hologram of Will's face appeared above the screen, grinning.

"Doctor, Rose, how are you both?"

"We're fine, thank you for asking," the Doctor replied. Deanna's face appeared over Will's shoulder.

"Look at you two love birds," she said laughing. Rose was lying with her head resting on the Doctors shoulder, looking at the screen. The Doctor looked down at Rose and back at the screen.

"You didn't have anything to do with this, did you Councillor?" the Doctor asked Deanna.

"I'm afraid, client confidentiality and professional ethics prevent me from making any comment," Deanna said with a smile.

"I bet it does," the Doctor replied. Rose was laughing.

"I told you she was good," added Will.

"Anyway, the reason I'm calling is to see if you wanted to meet this evening and do something," the Doctor said.

"Sounds great, what have you got in mind?" Will asked.

Rose held up her e-pad. "What about the theatre? There's a good review for a comedy play," she suggested.

"I love live theatre," Deanna said.

"That's settled then, the theatre it is," the Doctor said.

Rose booked some tickets on-line and they arranged to meet in the bar before the show.

The play lived up to its review, it was hilarious. The four of them really enjoyed themselves, and made arrangements to meet up over the next few days and try some of the activities available on Risa.

The next morning they travelled to the northern icecap, to a ski resort where the hotels were sculpted into the side of the mountains.

Rose and the Doctor had never skied before. Will and Deanna on the other hand, were reasonably proficient and offered to teach them the basics.

They had never laughed so much in their lives. The Doctor and Rose spent most of the morning on their bottoms laughing.

After lunch though, they could descend the basic slopes well, and all four of them skied down in formation.

They ended up in the bar of a hotel that had a heated balcony. They watched the suns paint the clouds gold and red as they drank hot chocolate liqueurs.

The following day was back to the equator and an organised tour around the reefs of Tambini Bay.

They were in a group of twelve, and the day started with a ride on an inflatable being towed behind a speed boat.

After that they had a go at paracending, Rose was unsure at first, but when she was up in the air she loved it.

The grand finale came when the group were kitted out with 'bubble' helmets. They had comm-links and when they were under water, it gave the illusion that there was no helmet. It was like swimming free in an alien aquarium.

The day finished with a barbecue on the beach, where Will and Deanna broke the news that the refit of their ship was complete and they had to get a transport back early tomorrow morning.

So that evening they said their goodbyes. Deanna and Rose hugged, Deanna had become like an elder sister to Rose.

"Thank you for everything," Rose said.

Deanna smiled and held Rose's hand. "It's been a pleasure Rose. I think you and John will be just fine. I've got a good feeling about you two."

The Doctor and Will shook hands and grinned, they had become good friends over the last couple of days. The women kissed and the men hugged them, and then the Doctor and Rose left for the hotel.

For the next three weeks, the Doctor and Rose worked their way through the list of tourist things to do. After all, there was a whole planet to explore.

They visited the subterranean gardens where the plants and insects were bio-luminescent.

There was a boat trip along a jungle river, a candle lit dinner in the revolving restaurant on top of Tolari tower and lunch in Malone tower.

They went to music festivals and art exhibitions until it felt like they had visited everywhere there was to visit.

One morning the Doctor woke up and was floating with Rose cuddled up beside him. He was reflecting on the last few weeks.

He had been totally relaxed. No one had tried to kill them. They hadn't had to rescue anyone. Neither had they had to save a planet from destruction.

He had learned to love again, although he was still reluctant to say "I love you Rose Tyler" just in case it jinxed everything. Overall though, all things considered, it had been brilliant.

Rose stirred and slowly opened her eyes.

"I just had a dream about mum," she said. "I wonder how she's doing?"

"Do you want to go home to find out?" the Doctor asked her.

"Can we? That would be great," she replied. The Doctor got out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

"I'll have a shower, get dressed and then we can pack," he told her. Rose hopped out of bed and followed him.

"Hang on, I'll come and scrub your back," she said. "As well as other things." She had read 'Fun you can have in a shower' on the Risa website.

After ending up looking like they were in a game of twister, they got out of the shower and grabbed some towels. Rose was drying her hair, and the Doctor was drying off her back.

"Rose?" he said tentatively.

"Yes?" she replied.

"You know when we see your mother?"

"Yes?" She started to smile. She had an idea where this was going.

Jackie Tyler doesn't like the Doctor very much. She doesn't like him taking her daughter gallivanting around the universe.

Jackie was fiercely protective of her daughter, having raised her single-handed. Her dad Pete had been killed in a road traffic accident when she was only a baby.

After a brief but disastrous relationship with a young musician called Jimmy Stone, Jackie felt that no man would be good enough for Rose.

The Doctor was a bit late getting Rose back home after their first jaunt in the TARDIS. He thought that twelve months didn't seem that long to someone who'd lived 900 years.

Jackie showed him some time travelling of her own when she knocked him half way in to next week with a smack to the face. Even after his regeneration he swears he can still feel it.

"Well, you're not going to tell her what we've been up to, are you?" he asked her looking so much like a worried little boy who's been naughty.

"What, the skiing and diving and the restaurants? Of course. Why not?" She turned around to face him, keeping her face straight.

The Doctor hesitantly continued. "No, I mean, you know, us,... it."

Rose couldn't keep a straight face any more and started laughing. "Look at you. I've seen you stand up to a whole Dalek army, but one mention of my mum and you turn to jelly."

He started to smile. "Can you blame me?" he asked her. "If she knew what we'd been up to, she'd kill me."

Rose laughed again, gave him a kiss on the cheek and rubbed his chest with her towel.

"Okay, I take your point. We'll tell her we've been on a boring asteroid or something. It'll be our secret," she said, rubbing her body against his teasingly.

"Right then," he said with relief. "That's settled. Let's get dressed and packed."

As he left the shower he playfully flicked her naked bottom with his towel.

Rose had finally got all her things in the suitcase. That one suitcase seemed to hold more clothes than could possibly fit in it.

The Doctor headed for the door. "You wait here, and I'll get the TARDIS. I'll be back before you can say,…" he said as he went through the door.

Rose heard the familiar wheeze of the TARDIS on the balcony.

"Bob's your uncle," the Doctor said as he stepped on to the balcony.

They stood arm in arm looking out over the alien city. Rose rested her head on his shoulder.

"This has been the best holiday I've ever had," she told him.

"It beats Tenby then?" he asked with a smile.

"Only just." She took a deep breath, one last look at the panorama and then turned towards the Doctor.

"C'mon then, let's go." They stepped into the TARDIS and slowly disappeared.


	7. Chapter 7

Notes: Time lines start to converge, antagonists meet and the TARDIS 'bumps' into the USS Enterprise E.

**Chapter 7**

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

The three of them looked at the view screen in astonishment and then looked at one another and burst out laughing. While they were laughing, three Borg drones materialised in a shimmering green light. That impressed the three Yautja; they didn't have matter transporter technology. They jumped out of their flight couches and faced the drones.

Takal-Atak reacted quickly and tapped the controls on his wrist device. The metal cylinders in the corner of the flight deck opened.

Several things then happened at once. The nearest Borg grabbed Takal-Atak, who was momentarily distracted while opening the cylinders, and two tubes pierced his neck and injected nanoprobes into his body.

The other two Yautja had already sliced the prosthetics off the Borg in front of them. Out of the cylinders, three spider-like creatures leapt across the flight deck and clamped to the faces of the Borg before they and Takal-Atak disappeared in shimmering green light.

The ship lurched as a tractor beam locked on, dragging them towards the Borg cube. That was useful; it saved them having to fly there. They donned their body armour and 'tooled up' for a hunt. They put Atal-Atak's armour in their packs. They thought they would simply give it back to him when they found him. They thought wrong.

* * *

The USS Enterprise was a sovereign class star ship that had recently undergone a refit and upgrade. It had a saucer-shaped primary hull that resembled an upside-down teaspoon. That sat on top of the roughly cylindrical rear secondary hull.

The secondary hull had two support struts, one either side that held the warp nacelles that allowed the ship to travel faster than light. She was on manoeuvres to see how she shaped up.

The Captain was a man of French descent: Jean Luc Picard. He had been captain of Star Fleets flag ships for nearly ten years, being an outstanding commanding officer, diplomat and archaeologist. His bald head accentuated his 'hawk like' nose, thin lips and piercing eyes. He was totally committed to his ship and his crew and in return they were totally loyal to him.

Unlike many captains, he suffered fools gladly having been one himself when he left Star Fleet academy. During a bar brawl over a rigged game of dom-jot, a Nausicaan stabbed him through the heart, and he had to undergo emergency surgery to replace his heart. He laughed after looking down to see the knife protruding through his chest. This event helped him realize how fragile life could be, and thus made him more willing to take risks and make his mark on the universe.

He was off duty in his quarters enjoying some Beethoven and reading Shakespeare, while drinking his favourite beverage of hot, Earl Grey tea. His desk intercom chirped at him. He leaned over and activated it.

It was his First Officer, William Riker. "Sorry to disturb you, Captain, but you have an incoming transmission from a Dr Chandra, an exo-sociologist on Candoris III."

The Captain swung his chair around to face the screen. "That's alright, Number One, put him on." An Asian man appeared on the screen. "Dr Chandra, what can I do for you?" he asked.

"Captain Picard, my apologies for disturbing you, but you are the nearest star ship to our location," he began. "We have been on this planet now for seven months, studying the societies that exist here using cloaked hides. A few weeks ago, a steam ship returned from abroad with tales of a demon appearing in the jungle. As sociologists, we found this interesting because there are no legends or folklore to explain the sudden appearance of stories of killings, mutilations and unexplained lightning flashes. We suspect that an outside, off world influence may be responsible. Would your ship be able to do a quick sensor sweep of the jungle across the ocean to the west of our location?"

Picard nodded. "Of course, doctor, it's not too much of a detour and I don't think it will delay us any."

Dr Chandra smiled. "Many thanks, Captain. Chandra out." The screen went blank.

He activated the intercom again. "Number One, set a course for Candoris III, warp three. We have a little reconnaissance mission to perform."

Riker's voice came back over the speaker. "Yes, sir. Candoris III, warp three. Riker out." Picard had a sip of his tea and went back to his Shakespeare.

**March 2379**

"Did you hear that?" the Doctor asked Rose.

She was reading a book on the e-pad and hadn't been paying attention to the wheezing of the TARDIS. "Hear what?" she asked him, looking up from her book.

"The TARDIS hiccupped," he told her. Rose laughed and gave him a questioning look. He saw the look on her face. "No, honestly, there was a slight jump in the rhythm." He moved around the console checking the readouts. "I'm going to drop us back into normal space to realign the temporo-spacial navigator."

"I love it when you talk dirty," she said. The Doctor grinned at her and gave her a wink.

The TARDIS slowed her wheezing and stopped. "Just as I thought, 57 light years off course and in the 24th century," he announced.

Rose was looking at the display screen. "Are we still supposed to be in space?" she asked.

"What do you mean, 'supposed to be'? We are in space," he told her.

"Then why can I see a warehouse on the view screen?" she said.

"What?" He ran around to the screen. Sure enough, there on the screen were containers, boxes and various objects stacked up.

The Doctor went back around the console to check the read out on the co-ordinate display. Rose followed him to have a look herself, not that she had a clue what she was looking at.

Neither of them were looking at the screen when a team of armed men took up positions around the TARDIS.

"According to this, we should be light years from any planet. We need to have a look outside." The Doctor took Rose's hand and headed for the door.

"Why do I feel this is a bad idea?" she asked herself out loud.

They stepped outside and looked at the warehouse.

"Hey, look. It's a cargo bay," the Doctor said.

"Don't move!" a deep voice said from behind them. Startled, the Doctor and Rose turned to see six rifles pointing at them.

They raised their hands, and Rose sarcastically said, "I suppose the wheel fell off your unicycle."

* * *

The Enterprise proceeded for the best part of a week, now up to warp speed, when the trail suddenly stopped. Captain Picard left his ready room and stepped on to the bridge.

"Your analysis, Mr Data?" he asked.

"The trail of ionised particles stopped abruptly, captain. I have no explanation," Data replied.

"Hmm, that's odd. Do a sweep of the area and see if you can pick up the trail again," Picard commanded.

Before Data could respond, the internal sensors demanded his attention. "Captain, I am detecting high levels of chroniton and tachyon particles in Cargo Bay Four. It appears there is temporal disturbance."

"On screen, Mr Data," the Captain commanded.

On the large main view screen at the front of the bridge there appeared a view of Cargo Bay four. An object started to materialize in front of them.

"Red alert, shields up. Mr Worf, take a security detail to Cargo Bay Four," the first officer instructed.

"Thank you, number one," Picard said. "Mr Data, what's your analysis?"

"The object appears to have created a temporal disturbance to materialize within the Enterprise. The sensors are having difficulty in getting a lock on the object."

The security detail consisted of six, highly trained operatives that moved silently in to the cargo bay and disappeared among the containers. They carried state-of-the-art phaser rifles with auto-targeting capabilities.

Lieutenant Worf, a Klingon warrior, worked his way forward from cover to cover, using the tricorder to gather information on the target as he approached. The target was a blue box about 2.5 metres tall with the words "police box" displayed on each side. The tricorder had as much trouble as the main sensors in analysing the blue box.

Worf was reporting back to the bridge when the doors of the box opened. The bridge crew were watching the operation on the main view screen. The blue police box could clearly be seen, surrounded by the élite troops.

Councillor Troi suddenly stood up and walked forwards. "Will, it's Rose and Dr Smith." She had felt Rose's presence as she stepped out of the TARDIS. Will looked closely at the main viewer. Sure enough, there were the Doctor and Rose with their hands up.

"Captain, these are the people we met on Risa last year. I told you about the archaeologist Dr Smith," Will said.

"Ah, yes, I remember. What the devil are they doing on the Enterprise?" Picard asked no one in particular.

In Cargo Bay Four, Rose and the Doctor were taking stock of the situation. "We're unarmed," the Doctor told them.

A tall, dark-skinned man with ridges on his forehead stood and moved carefully towards them. He held a weapon trained directly at them. A chirping noise came from the insignia on his chest. He tapped it and spoke. "Worf here."

"Mr Worf, you can stand down your security detail and escort our guests to the conference room." The voice was authoritative yet warm and reassuring.

The Klingon seemed hesitant. "Captain?"

There was an un-assessed threat here. The voice spoke back, even more warm and reassuring. "It's alright, Mr Worf, they have been vouched for."

"Very well, sir. Worf out." He tapped his comm-link off. The Doctor was anxious to meet a captain who could command such obedience from a Klingon. "Please follow me," Worf growled, in a voice that made the 'please' redundant. The rest of the security detail appeared from cover and dispersed. The Doctor was impressed; they were very slick.

As they left the cargo bay, Rose whispered, "Doesn't he look like the doorman at that night club on Risa."

The Doctor gave her a worried look. "Shhh, it's not wise to wind up a Klingon."

Worf brought them to a door where a bald-headed man in uniform was waiting for them. "Ah, Dr Smith and Miss Tyler I presume," he said shaking their hands. The Doctor was going to ask how he knew who they were, but the man continued. "I'm Captain Jean Luc Picard, and I'd like to welcome you aboard the Enterprise." He gestured towards a door which 'swished' open as they approached it.

It opened onto a long room that had a long table down the middle. The far wall sloped with the curve of the ships hull and was mainly windows looking out into space.

Before the Doctor could ask his question, the Captain spoke again. "I believe you already know my first officer and ships councillor."

Rose had spotted them and ran past the Captain. "Deanna! Will!"

They hugged and kissed, and the Doctor had that terrible feeling of foreboding rush into his head. Surely this was just a coincidence. Or were other forces at work?

"Doctor, are you alright?" Deanna asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost." He quickly regained his composure, and the feeling of dread subsided.

"I'm fine. It was just such a surprise to see you both again." He kissed Deanna and shook Will's hand.

"You've met Lieutenant Worf, head of security on the Enterprise," the Captain said. Worf nodded towards them.

"This is my science officer, Lieutenant Commander Data," Picard continued.

A dark-haired man with a pale, shiny complexion nodded to them and said, "Hello."

The Doctor looked intently at Data. "Are you an android, Mr Data?" he asked.

"Yes, I am, the only serving android officer in Star Fleet," he answered.

"You look very familiar, have we met before?" The Doctor was sure he had seen Data somewhere before, a long time ago.

Data's head tilted slightly to one side slightly as he stared blankly ahead for a second. "No, I have no memory of having met you before."

The Doctor shrugged. It was probably best not to tell him that he might have been a different person.

The Captain continued the introductions. "This is my Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commander Geordie Laforge."

A young man of Afro-Carribean descent raised a hand and said. "Hi." He had a friendly smile and unusual, pale eyes. Close up, they would have seen that they were sophisticated implants. Laforge had been born blind, and for many years wore a visor that allowed him to see. Recent developments in bio-optical technology, mainly from captured Borg implant technology, had allowed him to discard the visor in preference of the inter-ocular implants.

"So, Doctor, tell me, what brings you aboard the Enterprise?" Picard asked.

"A wobbly wheel," Rose said as the Doctor was about to answer. The Doctor looked at her with raised eyebrows as she grinned at him.

Deanna had a quiet giggle. She could sense Rose was teasing him with a private joke.

"Well, anyway," he continued. "We were travelling along when I realised that something had knocked us off course. I had to drop back into normal space to get a navigation fix. Unfortunately your ship was in the way. Have there been any local gravimetric distortions, super novae, black holes?"

Data tapped the shiny table top, and an LCARS terminal lit up. After a few seconds, he looked up. "I can detect no naturally occurring phenomena within ten light years of the Enterprise. A trans-warp drive activation could also be responsible. That would be more difficult to detect," Mr Data reported.

The Doctor thought about this. If there were no naturally occurring phenomena that would cause a gravimetric disturbance, then it must have been artificial.

Before he could ponder this, the science officer Mr Data was asking a question. "When your ship materialized, we detected a temporal distortion."

"Yes, that's how the TARDIS works, it moves out of normal space into the vortex, and then drops back into normal space somewhere else," the Doctor explained.

"Fascinating," Data said.

This information tweaked Laforge's engineering brain. "That small ship is able to do that?"

Rose smiled and said, "It's bigger than it looks."

"You must let me show you all around," the Doctor offered.

"Perhaps later, when we are all off duty," Captain Picard said. "Deanna, perhaps our guests would like a tour of the Enterprise and we could meet in ten forward later."

Both the Doctor and Rose were enthusiastic about this idea, so Deanna took them to the bridge and worked her way down the 29 decks. On the bridge, they saw how the ship operated in its daily routine. It was a round room with a large view screen that filled the front wall. The captain's chair was in the centre of the room on a raised daïs, with the first officer and councillors chairs either side.

In front of the view screen were the helm controls that navigated and steered the massive ship. To the right of the view screen was a door that led to the captain's ready room. Doors at the rear of the bridge led to an observation room and next to these doors were the turbo-lifts, a network of tunnels that crisscrossed the ship and 'zipped' cylindrical lifts from one area to another.

The Enterprise-E had recently undergone a refit, including four additional phaser arrays and five additional torpedo tubes. The Doctor wasn't too impressed by all this fire power. Other sections of the ship included deflector control, stellar cartography and hydroponics on deck 11.

On deck 16, they met the attractive red-headed Chief Medical Officer Beverley Crusher in the Sickbay. She was a talented physician and brilliant surgeon with a wealth of experience in space medicine. Also on deck 16 was Main Engineering, where the Doctor and Geordie discussed the physics of warp engines.

Geordie impressed the Doctor with his knowledge and skill. Not as impressed as Geordie was with the Doctors knowledge of warp drive engines and physics. They ended the tour up in Ten Forward, situated on deck ten at the extreme forward end of the saucer section.

The room had several large windows, which offered a spectacular view of space ahead of the vessel. The room was accessed by two doors, on the port and starboard sides at the rear of the room. The location served as the social centre of the ship with several recreational activities such as three-dimensional chess, Terrace and Strategema provided.

They sat at a table, and Deanna ordered some drinks. "So, what have you two been up to since we last met?" Deanna asked them.

"We stayed on Risa and had a fantastic holiday. We were on our way home when we drifted off course," Rose told her.

"You stayed on Risa for over a year?" Deanna sounded surprised.

'Damn!' Rose thought. She still hadn't got used to this fourth-dimensional stuff. They had said goodbye to Will and Deanna only a month ago, and over twelve months had passed for them, the TARDIS had travelled over a year when it veered off course.

"Over a year?" the Doctor said. "It only seemed like weeks to us."

This made sense to what Deanna was feeling about Rose.

The doors to Ten Forward swished open as Will entered and headed to the bar. He gave them a wave and came over when he had his drink.

"And what have you two been up to?" Rose asked. Deanna smiled, and Will had a big grin on his face.

"We've set a date," Deanna said. "When we get back to Earth, we're getting married."

Rose squealed with delight, leaned over and gave them both a big hug. Members of the crew in Ten Forward cheered. Most of them already knew but cheered anyway, after all, good news is good news.

"About time you made an honest woman of her," Captain Picard said from the bar. He had entered with Geordie and Beverley.

"Yes, it does seem a rather protracted courtship. Is this normal mating behaviour?" Data asked.

Everyone at the table laughed, except for Data, who just looked puzzled.

The group chatted amicably. The Doctor discussed archaeology with Picard, warp engines with Laforge and quantum physics with Data. Rose asked about Will and Deanna's wedding plans. Conversation with the Doctor eventually turned to the TARDIS. Geordie wanted to know all about it.

"Tell you what, why don't I show you," the Doctor said.

"A splendid suggestion," the Captain said, and they all headed for Cargo Bay Four.

They were standing to the side of the TARDIS with the Doctor so that they were unable to see inside. Rose was already inside. She loved to see people's faces when they first went in.

"Captain Picard, Dr Crusher, perhaps you would like to be the first to squeeze in with Rose?" the Doctor suggested.

Jean Luc and Beverley stepped into the TARDIS. 'Good grief' and 'amazing' were heard from inside.

"Geordie, Data, do you think you could squeeze in as well?"

As they entered, "wow" and "fascinating" could be heard from them.

"Deanna, Will, why don't you see if you can squeeze in as well?" the Doctor said with a grin.

"We'll never fit in there," Will said.

Through the open door, Deanna could sense from Rose that something wasn't quite right. "I get the feeling that things aren't quite what they seem," she said and stepped through the door.

When you first step into the TARDIS, your eyes see that the inside is bigger than the outside, and your brain slaps your face and says, 'Don't be ridiculous.'

Will and Deanna stepped into the TARDIS, eyes wide and mouths open. Everyone except Data was going past them to walk around the outside. Data didn't need to. He already knew the exterior dimensions of the box and had a fair idea of what was going on.

He approached the Doctor. "The wooden box appears to be a portal to an adjacent, parallel dimension where the interior of the vessel resides," he stated.

"Very good. Yes." Everyone had re-entered the TARDIS and had turned their attention to Data and the Doctor.

"Imagine the tip of an iceberg that you can see in the dimension of air," he explained to them. "The majority of it is in the dimension of water where you can't see it." Rose had always wondered about that.

Data looked thoughtful. "I know quantum mechanics predicts multiple dimensions, but to see such an elegant application of the theory is quite extraordinary," he said.

They had a tour around the TARDIS, marvelling at its unique design and construction, eventually coming back to the doors at the entrance.

"A truly remarkable ship Doctor," Captain Picard said. "You're a man of many surprises," he added as they left the TARDIS.

"So I've been told," he replied, grinning.

"Doctor, Rose. We are going back to Ten Forward for a meal and then having a game of poker. Would you care to join us?" Will asked.

The Doctor looked at Rose. "I don't know. We did want to get back to Earth. Rose's mum will be wondering where we have got to," he replied.

Rose smiled at him. He was so thoughtful. "I don't think a meal and a game of poker will make that much difference," she told him.

They ordered food from the replicators, and everyone was fascinated by the Doctor and Rose' choice. The Doctor wanted chip shop fish and chips, in paper. Data helped them explain to the replicator, and after a couple of amusing attempts it finally got it right.

Halfway through the meal, Deanna felt that something was troubling the Captain. "Is everything alright Captain?" she asked.

"No it's not, councillor," he replied, his voice full of concern. He tapped his comm-link.

"Mr Worf, raise shields, yellow alert. Initiate a long-range sensor sweep; I'm on my way up." He stood quickly.

"What is it, Captain?" Will asked.

"Voices in my head. The Borg are back," he told him. The calm, reassuring voice had gone, replaced with one of concern.


	8. Chapter 8

Notes: The Enterprise encounters the Borg, but something is wrong. The Doctor has a plan to stop them for good.

**Chapter 8**

"Doctor, you and Rose may wish to leave in your TARDIS, things may get nasty around here." And with that, he left Ten Forward, followed by the senior bridge staff.

Dr Crusher remained with the two of them. Her skills wouldn't be needed yet.

The Doctor looked at Rose, concern all over his face. "I'd better get you back home then," he said. That stunned Rose.

"What?" she asked. He would normally have rushed in where angels feared to tread, and now he wanted to run away. "Deanna and Will are our friends. They need our help."

The Doctor now looked upset and guilty. "I'm sorry, Rose, I didn't think I had the right to put you in danger any more. Recently I have come to realise just how precious you are to me."

Her heart melted. This remarkable man loved her, and he couldn't admit it to her, or even to himself. She reached out and held his hand. "Don't you remember in the hotel room, I told you that I loved you for the way you helped people? I'm not leaving my friends, and I don't think you will either," she said. "Why don't you offer your help to the Captain. I get the impression he's going to need it."

"Mr Data, initiate a full sensor sweep," the Captain ordered.

"Yes, sir." Data adjusted the attitude controls of the ship so that it would rotate once around its axis and then tilt up a few degrees, rotate and tilt, rotate and tilt, so that the main sensor dish under the saucer section could probe deep into space in all directions. It would take about half an hour to complete a whole sphere.

The Captain was sitting in the command chair, waiting, when the bridge intercom chirruped. It was Dr Crusher.

"Captain, the Doctor and Rose are staying on board. The Doctor would like to offer his help. He says he has a lot of experience in these situations. He's a sort of technical advisor, a consultant if you like," she told him.

"That would be out of the question, this is a Federation star ship," he replied.

"Captain Picard, this is Rose. I have seen the Doctor stand up to, and defeat whole armies and invasion fleets, and rescue many individuals and civilisations," she told him.

The Captain looked at his first officer and councillor.

"Rose is telling the truth," Deanna said. "Her belief in the Doctor is unquestionable."

Picard nodded. "Very well, Dr Crusher, can you brief him on the Borg. We may need all the help we can get."

Thirteen minutes and twenty eight seconds into the scan, the display on Data's console indicated a target.

"Captain, we have a target bearing two-seven-five, one-eight-four, elevation zero-three-four. Range 100,282,000 kilometres. Spectroscopy scans shows the target is composed of tritanium alloy," he reported.

"That's the Borg ship," Picard declared. "Red alert. Contact the Federation and advise them of our situation," he ordered.

"Captain, the Borg vessel appears to be stationary and they do not appear to be aware of our presence," Data reported.

That was unusual, they were normally continuously on the look out for new additions to the collective.

Captain Picard moved to Data's station and looked at the display. "Can you determine their status, Data?"

"Not at this range, sir, we may be able to manoeuvre closer without attracting attention and perform a more detailed scan," Data informed him.

Picard was torn between retreating at speed, and investigating the unusual behaviour of the Borg.

His sense of duty won over and he gave the order to move forward. "Go carefully Mr Data, try to fly casually and not attract attention."

* * *

In Ten Forward, Doctor Crusher was briefing the Doctor and Rose on the Borg.

"In the year minus 169,044, two frozen drones were unearthed in the Arctic. The Borg were quickly revived and assimilated the scientists who found them before stealing an unarmed research ship, modifying it to match Starfleet technology in a matter of hours.

The drones managed to send a transmission toward the Delta Quadrant before they were destroyed. According to records, their transmission reached its destination 200 years later," she began.

"Hang on," the Doctor interrupted. "Is that a star date?" he asked. Beverley nodded. "Right, so that's subtract 32, divide by 9 and multiply by 5," he started.

"That's Fahrenheit to Centigrade," Rose told him.

"Oh, yes. So it is. The year 2153," he said with a smug look on his face.

Beverley continued. "They didn't realise the threat the Borg posed. They were colonising the Delta Quadrant, assimilating any suitable race they came across. A few years ago, we followed a Borg ship through a temporal rift they created to the year 2369, where they tried to destroy the first warp drive ship. That's where the drones came from that were found in the Arctic a hundred years later," she finished.

"So you've travelled in time?" Rose asked.

"Yes, a few times, using a sling shot effect around the gravity well of a star," Beverley explained. "Data would be able to explain the technicalities," she said.

The Doctor looked horrified. "That's a very risky way of travelling through time, one millimetre off course and you're cooked or crushed," he explained. There was something familiar about the Borg, something he was missing. "Can I use that to gain access to detailed information on the Borg?" he asked Dr. Crusher.

"Yes, of course, it's connected to the interworld webnet, although the Federation files are encrypted and require access codes."

The Doctor tapped his jacket pocket. "I have some codes of my own," he said.

Beverley stood up. "I have to go to prepare Sick Bay for the forthcoming encounter," she told them and left Ten Forward.

"Right then, we've got some work to do." He took out his sonic screwdriver, adjusted it and used it on the display. Several windows popped up and access was granted.

"What are we doing?" Rose asked him.

"We're going to stop the Borg," he said with that Time Lord look in his eyes that Rose both loved and feared.

* * *

"Captain," Data called out. "I have finished my analysis of the sensor scan."

Captain Picard stood and moved towards Data's station to look at the display. "Have you found any answers?" he asked.

"Yes, Captain. Certain sections of the cube have been abandoned and isolated. The Borg seem to be preoccupied with combating an infestation of some kind," Data reported.

"Are you telling me they have rats?" the Captain asked.

"I am unable to ascertain the exact nature of the infestation. However, there have been fatalities, and isolation seems to be their only recourse," Data responded.

'I wonder what could be so bad that the Borg have problems dealing with it?' Picard asked himself. 'And what if it spreads to other ships,' he thought. "Continue your analysis, Data, see if you can find out what's giving them so much trouble," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," he replied as the Captain returned to the command chair.

The voices in his head were never really distinct, just vague whisperings conveying an overall idea of the hive mind.

Picard was trying to tune in to get a feel for what they were dealing with and what strategies they were using. He was getting an impression not of panic, because they had no emotional responses, but more of an increased probability of failure to eliminate the threat.

He was brought out of his reverie by voices, not in his head but over the ship's intercom.

"Is it working?" It was Rose's voice.

"I think so, it's difficult to tell." That was the Doctor's voice.

"Maybe you have to go bing-bong or something," Rose's voice said.

"I doubt a 24th century state-of-the-art star ship goes bing-bong," the Doctor's voice said.

Captain Picard stood and looked down at Deanna in disbelief. Deanna looked up at the Captain and then down at her hands on her lap, trying to suppress the rising laughter in her chest.

She looked over at Will, who had an enormous grin on his face; she nearly lost it then. "Doctor, would you please vacate the intercom channel," he said to the voices.

The Doctor's cheery voice came back. "Oh. Hello, Captain. Yes, sorry about that, but I needed to speak with you rather urgently."

The Captain spoke to the ceiling again. "Can it wait? We are in the middle of a red alert at the moment."

The Doctors voice came back from the ceiling. "Ah. Well. Yes, it's sort of about that. You see, I think I know how to stop the Borg for good."

Everyone on the bridge looked up at the voice in the ceiling.

* * *

In the conference room, Data had called up the information off the e-pad on to the main screen.

The Doctor was going over the history of the Borg that the others weren't aware of.

"On the display you can see the expansion of the Borg to the present day," the Doctor started. "If you extrapolate the movements in reverse it takes you back to this point here in what you call the Delta Quadrant."

He pointed to a spot on the star chart displayed on the screen. "Most of the Delta Quadrant remains uncharted by the Federation. The TARDIS however, has detailed charts of this galaxy and many others. The nearest habitable planet to this point is a planet called Sillania.

Now, the Sillanians were a friendly, sociable and intelligent people who loved technology. They had a global network of computers, video phones, instant messaging and the like. Back on Earth, while Europe was in its renaissance and Caxton was printing the first books, they were building space stations and colonising their moons."

"Are you saying that they were the first to be assimilated?" Captain Picard asked.

The Doctor continued. "Sort of. You see, they were very good with bionics, replacement limbs, organs and nano technology. Eventually they developed an implantable messaging device so people on the planet, the space station and the moons could all keep in touch. Like I said, they were highly sociable."

The Doctor stopped for a moment, his face sad. "I tried to tell them that biology and technology don't always integrate well. We've seen that enough times, haven't we Rose?"

She looked up at him, puzzled, and then realised. "What? Oh, the Daleks and the Cybermen," she said.

"That's right. Anyway, when I left Sillania, they were enjoying their new-found ability to communicate with friends and loved ones," he finished.

Deanna spoke first. "But John, that would have happened over 900 years ago. I know Rose said you were long-lived, but 900 years?"

The Doctor smiled at her. "Well, actually, I am 900 years old. But I do have some help. You see, the TARDIS travels through time as well as space."

Realisation dawned on her face. "I knew there was something about you two when you came aboard," she said.

Captain Picard brought them back to the point. "Doctor, you said you could stop the Borg?"

The Doctor looked at him, the sad look still there. "After I left them, the nano probes must have taken over their brains. They were commercial microprocessors, designed for continuous upgrading for the best possible performance. That's what they've done for the last thousand years."

"So the Sillanians inadvertently reinvented themselves as the Borg," Data said.

"Exactly," the Doctor replied. "One of the last upgrades must have enforced the need to add technological perfection. Their culture adapted to service the nano probes.

Sillania will now be a Unicomplex, resembling a patchwork-like collection of thousands of cubes, connected by assorted conduits and transportation hubs."

"So what is it you propose to do, Doctor?" Captain Picard asked.

The Doctor looked at Picard with that Time Lord look in his eyes. "Go to the Borg ship, shut down the main frame computer, rewrite the chipset base code instructions to include the robotic laws and then reboot. The instructions should cascade down to each drone and give them their lives back. If we are lucky the instructions might be passed to other Borg ships."

This stunned the people around the table, including Rose.


	9. Chapter 9

Notes: Rose is abducted by the Borg. The Oncoming Storm launches a rescue attempt.

**Chapter 9**

Something was puzzling the Captain. He had travelled back in time and prevented the Borg from assimilating Earth.

He cleared his throat. "Doctor, if you can travel through time, why don't you go back and stop them using the nano probes in the first place?"

"Cause and effect," he said simply. With a distant look the Doctor explained.

"There are laws of time, just like there are laws of physics. I've already been on that time line. To change it could cause a cascade failure of causality, the fabric of our reality would unravel and the universe would cease to exist." He saw blank faces around the table.

"Okay. Imagine time is a stack of dominos in a fan shape," he started to explain. "Affect the first time line domino and it knocks over the two below it. They knock over four, then eight, sixteen, and before you know it you've knocked over all of time and destroyed the universe."

The Doctor thought about Gallifrey momentarily. He had certainly knocked all those dominoes over.

Deanna gasped and felt faint.

Will rushed to her side, his face full of concern. "Deanna what is it?"

Tears rolled down her cheeks. Rose was at her other side holding her hand.

"I suddenly got a wave of overwhelming sadness from the Doctor. How do you live with that pain? What happened to you?" she asked, looking up at him.

The Doctor sat down slowly and looked at the group. "I'm a Time Lord, the last of the Time Lords. A race of machine clad organisms called Daleks destroyed my home planet Galifrey. They were insane, xenophobic megalomaniacs, hell-bent on ruling the galaxy and destroying all other life forms."

He couldn't tell them the full horror of the time war, how he had brought death and destruction on the Daleks, the Time Lords and other worlds in an all-consuming super nova of destruction and the resulting black hole.

He had fully intended to sacrifice himself, but the TARDIS had other ideas and took his regenerating body to Earth, to his saviour, Rose.

So he lied.

"I was on Earth when the Time Lords drew a line in the sand and said 'No more.' All my family, my friends, they perished. I never saw them again."

Rose had walked around and crouched down in front of the Doctor and held his hands. Tears gently trickled down her cheeks. Deanna was quietly weeping, the room was silent.

"When I heard what had happened, I was full of rage and guilt. But then I met Rose. She taught me compassion and forgiveness; she made me better."

He was smiling at Rose. "It's the curse of the Time Lords. Able to travel in time, but unable to meddle with it."

Captain Picard spoke quietly. "I'm sorry Doctor. We didn't mean to drag up old memories for you. Unfortunately though, we have a pressing problem. Do you have any idea how to accomplish your goal?"

The Doctor regained his composure, gave Rose a hug and stood up. "Yes, but I'll need help."

Suddenly the red alert klaxon sounded as the ship shuddered. The ship had been on yellow alert since the Borg were ignoring them.

"Captain to the bridge." The call came over the intercom.

Captain Picard, followed by the rest of the group went through the side door of the conference room, which lead down a short corridor to the bridge.

They all staggered against the wall as the deck lurched sideways. The senior staff moved to their stations the Doctor and Rose stood in the centre by Picard.

The ensign that had sounded red alert reported to the Captain. "The Borg vessel became active and started to manoeuvre toward the Enterprise, Sir."

"Well done ensign, carry on with your duties," the Captain told her.

Bristling with pride, the ensign said. "Aye sir," and moved up the ramp to the turbo lift.

"Shields down to 80%," Worf reported.

Data analysed the energy discharge from the Borg weapons.

"They are modifying the frequencies of their weapons causing them to resonate with our shields and pass through," he reported.

As if on cue, a green beam of energy flared against the shields and the rest passed through. The Enterprise lurched again.

"Shields down to 63%," Worf continued to report.

The Doctor ran up the ramp to the tactical station and stood next to Worf. "Here, let me adjust the shields manually. I can calculate as fast as the computer and I can do something the computer can't, I can use my instincts to predict the changes."

Worf looked towards the captain and stood aside as Picard nodded.

The Doctor's fingers flew over the controls like a concert pianist. On the main viewer the shields flared harmlessly and nothing got through.

The Doctor grinned. "How'd ya like them apples?" he asked. He started getting carried away and showing off, operating the controls with a flourish.

"Oh I'm good," he said. "Who's the daddy?"

Rose gently cleared her throat and the Doctor looked up. Everyone was looking at him.

"Ah… Right… I'll just press the buttons then." The Doctor went back to just tapping the controls.

"Yes, thank you Doctor, very good," Picard said and turned to the front. "Mr Data, what is the status of the Borg ship?" he enquired.

"They are slowly moving towards the Enterprise. We are being scanned as they approach." On the main viewer there was a magnified view of the Borg cube, a collection of pipes, conduits and girders.

Mr. Data continued. "Captain, there is an incoming transmission from the Borg ship."

"On the main speaker Mr. Data," the Captain instructed.

"Locutus, we are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add the biological and technological distinctiveness of your crew to our own. Your crew will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

Locutus was the name the Borg gave Picard when he had been assimilated before.

Captain Picard turned to Worf at tactical. "Mr Worf, arm phasers, attack pattern Picard-Borg beta. That should disable the Borg ship."

On the main viewer, bright orange beams hit the cube in a specific pattern. Mr Data checked the readouts. "No effect Captain. The Borg have adapted their ships. They seem to have anticipated that the Federation would use your knowledge to attack them."

Picard was worried now. Any knowledge he had from the Borg would be out dated and useless. He had lost the advantage.

"Captain, multiple transport signatures all over the ship," Data reported.

Picard thought 'what are they up to?' when a green shimmering light appeared behind him and a Borg drone appeared and reached out for him.

Rose was standing closest to the Captain and saw the zombie like hand reach for his shoulder. She shouted a warning and pushed Picard sideways, the Borg grabbing her instead.

On hearing her shout, the Doctor had turned to look and saw two tubes pierce her neck.

He reached for his sonic screwdriver as Rose looked into his eyes. He could see fear and regret in those eyes, before they rolled back and she collapsed into the Borg's arms. They disappeared in the shimmering green light.

"No!" the Doctor yelled.

He ran forward and stood on the spot where she had vanished.

"ROSE!" he yelled, and then fell silent.

There was more green light by Data as another drone appeared, the Doctor held up his screwdriver and activated it. The drone went stiff and fell backwards.

Another drone appeared by Geordie, which was also dispatched with the screwdriver.

"The Borg seem to have targeted key members of the crew for assimilation," Data informed them. "Probably to gain a tactical advantage. Rose and the Doctor's intervention has probably bought us valuable time," he concluded.

The Doctor looked at the Captain, his face white with rage but his voice frighteningly calm. "Captain Picard, I need to speak to the Borg."

It wasn't a request, or an order, it was a statement of fact.

Deanna had gone weak at the knees. She could feel the fury within the Doctor, like a volcano about to erupt.

"Mr Worf, open a channel to the Borg ship," the Captain instructed.

"Aye sir, channel open," Worf responded.

The Doctor walked to the main view screen and looked at the cube. "Borg, I am the Doctor, last of the Time Lords of Galifrey. Search your memories, you know me."

There was silence for a long time, and then a Borg appeared on the screen. "We know of a Time Lord called the Doctor from centuries ago." The Borg spoke with a strange, echoing voice.

"Then you know what I am capable of. You have taken my friend, my companion. You will return her, or face the consequences." There was no anger or threat in his voice, which made it more chilling.

"What will you do Doctor if we choose not to return your companion?" The drone asked in a similarly flat and chilling tone.

"YOU WILL FEEL THE WRATH OF A TIME LORD!" Everyone on the bridge jumped at the sudden change in the Doctors voice. He didn't shout, he just spoke with power. It made the hairs on the backs of their necks stand on end.

"So be it. There are no second chances," he said as he turned and looked at the bridge crew. He silently walked up the ramp to the turbo lift.

"Doctor, where are you going?" Picard asked him.

The Doctor nodded at the view screen. "Apparently to fetch Rose," he said.

On the view screen, behind the Borg drone, a blue wooden box was slowly appearing out of thin air.

* * *

Rose lay on a cold, hard slab, dressed in the standard Borg black body suit. She had gone from being the driver of her body, to a back-seat passenger on a coach.

Her eyes were staring ahead at the ceiling and she could see movement at the edges of her vision.

A Borg 'zombie' leant over her and looked at her face. It made her jump, but her body didn't.  
Something stung the side of her neck and she yelped with pain, except her body didn't.

Another Borg leaned over her from the left side. It held a black gadget over her left eye and started to lower it. Rose could see a spike on the end of it and couldn't look away.

"NO! Don't do that, please don't."

The spike got closer.

"NO, DON'T. DON'T, PLEASE, NO!"

The device entered her eye and connected with the retina at the back. Rose saw bright explosions of light and screamed in agony, except her body didn't.

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS wearing his long, brown coat and looked around.

He was in an area where several passageways converged. He could see an image of the crew of the Enterprise floating in mid-air in front of a Borg drone.

On the image he could just see the turbo lift doors closing with him inside. He walked up to the drone and tapped him on the shoulder.

As the drone turned, the Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver, and in his best Jack Nicholson voice said. "Here's the Doctor."

The sonic device scrambled all the Borg's implants and it collapsed to the floor.

On the bridge of the Enterprise, the Captain looked towards Data. "We really must find out how he does that," he said.

The Doctor moved off in search of Rose. The TARDIS had got him as close as it could to her life signs, now it was up to him to feel her out.

He had read all the Federation files on the Borg, including Captain Picards harrowing account of his abduction and assimilation.

He knew what they would be doing to Rose right now, and put it out of his mind. He needed to focus on the task ahead of him.

Rose came back to consciousness wishing she hadn't. She could hear thousands of voices in her head, like being in a busy railway station. If she listened, she could hear each message.

"Transwarp core 97% nominal tolerance."

"Power fluctuation in conduit three-seven-one intersection."

Her left eye ached and was showing her far too much information. Then she heard it, in the babble of voices, something every human can hear in the noise, her name.

"Rose. Hang on. I'm coming to get you. I'll be there soon." It was the Doctor! Some how he was speaking inside her mind. He was coming to rescue her.

She went dizzy as her body sat up. That was weird, it was like being on the deck of a boat that was pitching and rolling in choppy seas.

Someone was calling the Doctor, telling him where to find them. 'Who the hell could that be?' Rose thought, and then realised in horror, it was her.

What were the Borg up to? She concentrated on the voices in her head.

"Drone four of nine terminated in ventilation shaft two-five-five-eight."

"Assimilate the Time Lord. Designate his mate as liaison drone 'BlaiddDrwg of Borg."

So that was it, they were going to use her to lure the Doctor into a trap, and she was the bait.

The Doctor arrived at an intersection and looked down each passage. A drone walked past him, looked at him briefly and then stood in a green lit alcove and closed its eyes. The Doctor recognised this behaviour from the report. The drones received organic nutrients and energy for the implants.

"Doctor? Is that you?" It was Rose's voice coming from his left.

"Rose? Where are you?" he called out, moving down the passage.

"I can't move. There are drones here doing things to me."

He started to run. He stopped dead and back tracked a step to look into a room. Rose was standing in the middle of the room with two drones either side of her. The Doctor nearly cried. What had they done to her.

Unlike all the other drones, who were bald, Rose still had her blond hair, so that the Doctor would easily recognise her. She was in a black body suit. She had an implant in her left eye.

Tubes were coming out of her head and connecting in to her neck. Her left arm terminated in a multifunctional cybernetic hand that looked like a futuristic gauntlet.

"Oh Rose. What have they done to you?" he asked. His hearts breaking.

"Hello Doctor, I am BlaiddDrwg of Borg. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. You will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

As her body moved towards him, Rose was shouting. "RUN! LEAVE ME HERE AND RUN."

The Doctor stood face to face with the Rose drone. The Borg had tapped into her memories. 'BlaiddDrwg' was Welsh for 'Bad Wolf', a phrase that had followed them through time, something that gave the Doctor a sense of foreboding. The other drones had moved around to surround him.

"Hello Rose, I know you are in there and I'll be getting you out soon." He was looking into her lifeless, bloodshot eye.

BlaiddDrwg raised her arm. He could see the two flexible tubes extending out from the wrist, ready to pierce his neck.

"Ah, ah. Bad dog, down girl, down." He had adjusted his sonic screw driver for a short-range effect. He didn't want to harm Rose.

He touched her wrist with the screwdriver where the tubes were emerging from. They immediately went limp and dangled from her wrist.

"Sorry about this next bit Rose," he said and ducked forwards, grabbed her around the thighs, and rugby tackled her to the floor. She fell hard and hit the ground with a thud.

The Doctor quickly turned her on to her front and used the limp nano-tubes to bind her wrists behind her.

The other drones moved towards him and he quickly adjusted the screwdriver to make it longer range, but more focussed. He was kneeling on Rose so he knew the effect would be directed away from her.

Each drone in turn leant down towards him and fell forwards as their implants deactivated.

He took the belt off his coat and bound Rose's ankles. He then manoeuvred her into a sitting position and managed, with comical effect, to get her over his shoulder.

"Ooff, have you put weight on? It must be all that dining out on Risa." He struggled to his feet.

"You will be assimilated," BlaiddDrwg said.

"I know, you said," he replied.

"Resistance is futile," she continued.

"Then stop resisting. Right then, let's get you out of here." He headed back down the passageway, both hearts beating hard to supply his body with the energy he needed.

A drone came around a corner and he zapped it with the screwdriver. At the next interchange there were two of them. The first one dropped, but the second one staggered as though he had lost his balance and remained standing.

He had read about this, they had adapted their implants, it would take time to reset the sonic screwdriver.

The Doctor managed to dodge around it before it had fully recovered. At the last intersection before the TARDIS, a drone was standing waiting for him. He used the screwdriver and nothing happened.

"Damn, now what?" he said to himself. This was it, game over, he had nothing left. He would have to find another way around, and with Rose over his shoulder he was at a distinct disadvantage.

He looked behind him, to see the previous drone approaching, preventing him from going back.

Turning to the front, he contemplated his next move. Suddenly a spike burst through the drones chest. The drone looked down at the spike, back at the Doctor and was then lifted into the ceiling space and the ventilation ducts.

"What the hell?" The Doctor stood looking at the ceiling in disbelief. A voice over his shoulder brought him back to his senses.

"Resistance is futile," BlaiddDrwg said.

The Doctor said. "Yes, I can see that." And set off towards the TARDIS.


	10. Chapter 10

Notes: The Doctor and Rose take an away team in the TARDIS to the Borg ship.

**Chapter 10**

In Sick Bay, Rose was strapped down to a couch, while Dr. Crusher examined her. Data and Laforge were preparing an interface cable attached to the back of his head.

This would allow him to connect to the Borg implants in Rose and safely disable them. Deanna was close by, waiting to tell when Rose's consciousness returned.

Captain Picard was there also, because he had gone through this before.

The Doctor sat in a chair next to the couch, waiting for Rose to come back, and going over the rescue in his head.

"I am ready to make a level one connection," Data announced.

Captain Picard nodded and moved towards the couch. "BlaiddDrwg of Borg, I am Locutus of Borg. Surrender this body and terminate your connection to the collective."

BlaiddDrwg opened her eye and turned to look at Picard.

"Locutus, it is good to see you again, you will be welcomed back into the collective when we assimilate your vessel," she said in that mechanical voice.

"Level one connection established," Data reported.

Dr. Crusher checked Rose with her medical tricorder. "Pulse, respiration and blood pressure normal."

Geordie checked Data. "All neural processors functioning normally."

'He had sent Rose a mental message of hope, and she had called out to him,' the Doctor thought.

"Now attempting a level two connection," Data said.

"Captain Picard, don't drones normally lose their hair?" the Doctor asked.

The Captain was taken by surprise by this question. "Yes, normally, when the blood supply is reduced to the skin."

"Level two connecti...on established," Data reported.

Geordie scanned Data. "Slight fluctuation in a neural sub processor, now back to normal," he reported.

"Increased pulse and systolic blood pressure. Not serious," Dr Crusher reported.

Data continued. "Attempting final connection level."

Something was troubling the Doctor. 'Rose still has her blond hair, and her skin isn't that grey. It did make it easy to spot her,' he thought.

"Level,… level,… level three connection estab...lishing level three connection," Data stuttered.

Geordie made some quick adjustments. "Stay with me Data, stay with me."

"Level three connection established. I now have access to the Borg collective," Data finally reported.

"SHE CALLED OUT TO ME!" the Doctor shouted as he leapt out of the chair. "Data, don't do anything yet."

He looked down into the lifeless eye of BlaiddDrwg. "Tell me BlaiddDrwg of Borg, how was Rose able to call out to me when you control her body?"

"Doctor, what's going on?" Picard asked.

The Doctor looked at the Captain. "They wanted me to find her, to bring her back. The question is, why?"

"Rose Tyler is correct. The Doctor is clever," BlaiddDrwg said.

"Geordie, can we cross reference the scan of Captain Picard's implants with that of Rose?" the Doctor asked.

"Sure, I can bring them up on the view screen here."

Geordie moved to a console and brought up the images. "There we are, see, the same implants as... Wait a minute, this one in her chest is slightly different."

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and set it to scan. The chest implant had a thumb sized cylinder built into it. The Doctor checked the reading and went pale.

Picard walked over and spoke softly. "What is it Doctor, What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's a matter-antimatter capacitor. Protons and anti-protons are held apart by a containment field. If the field shuts down, the two meet and annihilate a thousand cubic kilometres of space." He looked back at BlaiddDrwg, the impassionate eye stared back. "They've booby-trapped my Rose."

Picard's brain stepped up a gear. "Data, interrogate the Borg collective. See if you can find out what they're planning. Geordie, can we ascertain how it's triggered, is it booby-trapped? Anything you can get. Beverley, how's the patient?"

While the crew were responding to the Captain, the Doctor walked over to Rose's body.

"BlaiddDrwg of Borg, what do the Borg want?" he asked her.

The lifeless eye turned to look at him. "Two things; we want you, and your time machine, and we want Locutus to surrender his ship and crew," she said in a matter of fact, mechanical tone. The people in Sick Bay stopped and looked.

"Why didn't you just take it when it was there?" the Doctor asked.

"We know from Rose Tyler that the TARDIS is sentient, that it responds to you. We need you to give yourself to us willingly," she replied.

So that was it, from the time they captured Rose, they read her memories and discovered they had hit the jackpot, as long as they could convince him to co-operate.

"If I co-operate, you assimilate the whole universe for all time. And if I don't." He let that thought dwindle into silence. He knew what he had to do.

He looked at Picard, and then looked past him to Deanna. "I need to take Rose to the TARDIS, and I need you all to trust me. Deanna, I need to let you sense something, something important, something that will cause you a lot of anguish and pain. Will you do that for me, for Rose?"

Deanna looked decidedly nervous, she had already sensed his repressed emotions, but she nodded in agreement.

The Doctor put his thumb under her chin, index finger on her cheek, middle finger on her temple, ring finger in front of her ear, and his little finger under the ear lobe.

"Your thoughts to my thoughts. Your mind to my mind," he chanted and together they said. "Our minds are one."

Deanna gasped and whimpered as the Doctor opened his thoughts to her.

First, she sensed his phenomenal intellect, more than any she had encountered before. She felt like a small child at school on her first day, facing all the professors at the Starfleet Academy.

She recalled what Rose had said about him having experience in these situations. She was right. He was a saviour of worlds. She felt his passion for truth and justice. He was the oncoming storm of righteousness.

The Doctor allowed her deeper in to his inner being. Deanna shivered as she sensed his darker side, he could be a destroyer of worlds also. The fifth horseman of the Apocalypse, the Ravager of Time.

And yet, he also carried with him the memory of every person he had failed or sacrificed for the greater good. She felt the unbearable sadness and guilt weighing him down.

He knew that Deanna had to see this to enable her to trust him. Then she got to what he needed her to see, his goodness and his resolve. He had a plan to save Rose and the universe, and he needed her help, her trust.

Deanna heard a voice, a memory maybe, or was it yet to become a memory.

"He's like fire, and ice, and rage; he's like the night, and the storm at the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time, and he can see the turn of the universe. And… he's wonderful."

She knew in an instant what she had to do.

The mind meld was coming to an end and she was ascending through the layers of his consciousness, when she suddenly saw him in all his incarnations. He was like a character in a play with different actors interpreting the role, each slightly different in personality, but deep down the same powerful and compassionate man.

"Doctor,..who,.." she faltered. "Who are you?" she asked him as she came out of the mind meld.

"I'm the Doctor," he told her. "The last Time Lord of Galifrey."

He turned to Picard. "Release Rose's body from the restraints, I'm taking her to the TARDIS."

The Captain was about to protest when Deanna spoke. "Captain, you must trust him, he's our only hope."

In the TARDIS, BlaiddDrwg stood by the console as the Doctor manipulated the controls.

"I'm just making a slight detour before we go to your ship," he told her.

She looked at the console. "Where are we?" she asked, in the same flat, mechanical voice.

He was running around, adjusting the controls as he ran. "At the moment we are on the surface of a dwarf star. The powerful magnetic and gravitational fields have an amazing effect on space and time. The TARDIS is now taking a detailed inventory of your body and comparing it with an inventory it took when we left Risa. It's an amazing thing the TARDIS, not only can it travel through time, it can choose what it takes with it and what it leaves behind!"

He slammed the lever home and the TARDIS lurched sideways. BlaiddDrwg pitched forwards and screamed.

The Doctor took a hypo-spray out of his pocket that Deanna had asked Dr. Crusher to prepare while BlaiddDrwg was being unshackled from the couch in Sick Bay. It contained a powerful sedative and anaesthetic, which Rose would need in the next few seconds.

He applied it to her neck and she went limp on the floor.

As the TARDIS wheezed its way out of the star and back to the Enterprise, it left the things that didn't belong in Rose's body behind.

The powerful gravity of the star contained the massive explosion of the matter-antimatter capacitor. In a hundred years time when the light reached them, astronomers on Earth would puzzle over a dwarf star that briefly increased its luminosity.

In Cargo Bay Four, Deanna had briefed everyone on the Doctors plan and they had made preparations. Captain Picard and his staff waited as the TARDIS materialized.

The Doctor came out carrying Rose in his arms. Her left eye socket was a bloody mess, as was her left arm, which ended just below the elbow. Blood streaked her blond hair where the cranial inserts and interconnecting tubes had been removed.

Dr Crusher rushed forwards with a floating stretcher, and the Doctor lowered her on to it.

Dr Crusher and Rose faded away in the transporter beam leaving the Doctor behind. He sank to his knees with exhaustion.

Deanna came over and kneeled beside him and put her arms around him. "She's back," she said simply.

* * *

He woke with a start. He was in the chair next to Rose's bed in Sick Bay. She was waking up and trying to speak. He leaned over to better hear what she was saying.

"How dare you say I'm fat. I suppose you're going to tell me my bum looked big in that Borg outfit?" she whispered, and gave him a weak smile.

He laughed and cried at the same time and kissed her forehead. "Rose Tyler, you're amazing."

The Doctor learned that while he was on the star, Data had discovered how the Borg had reconfigured their ship from BlaiddDrwg and was able to direct phaser fire to twelve locations which effectively disabled it. It would take the Borg some time to repair the damage, giving them time to prepare the Doctor's plan.

Rose was confined to Sick Bay for the next few days while she underwent treatment. She was wearing a regenerative eye patch which contained a nutrient gel with stem cells that would grow a new eye. She peeked inside the regenerative sling to see a baby's arm growing out of her elbow.

That was too weird.

The Doctor was a frequent visitor as he worked with Data and Geordie on his plan.

Captain Picard talked to Rose about his assimilation to the Borg. They compared notes on their experiences.

Deanna warned Rose about the nightmares and flashbacks that would inevitably occur, but her therapy sessions were going well. Rose was a tough cookie. You had to be when you travelled with the Doctor.

Sick Bay was dimly lit in the early hours as Rose got out of bed and went to the bathroom.

After using the toilet, she awkwardly tried to wash her hand in the basin and dry it with a towel. Looking in the mirror she could get a good look at the eye patch. It looked surprisingly sexy in a weird sort of way.

'Hey, it worked for the singer Gabrielle' she thought.

Dare she look underneath to see what her eye looked like? She moved closer to the mirror as the eye patch flew off and hit the mirror.

A Borg implant thrust forwards out of the socket, divided into six segments and folded back to clamp over her eye again. A red laser reflected off the mirror from the side of the implant.

Rose screamed and sat bolt upright in bed. The Doctor had leapt out of his chair and was hugging her tight. She was in a cold sweat and shivering.

"It's alright Rose, I'm here. It was just a bad dream. It's alright. When your body heals I'll make the nightmares go away," he told her. He laid her back on the bed and gently positioned his fingers over her forehead.

"Sleep," he whispered as he evoked memories of their holiday on Risa. Rose fell fast asleep dreaming of the Doctor and her dancing across the nebulous night sky.

That morning, Dr. Crusher discharged Rose from Sick Bay with instructions to take it easy.

She went back to the TARDIS to get some clothes. She stood in front of the full length mirror and had a good look at herself. She was in Starfleet regulation pale blue pyjamas, an eye patch and a sling on her left arm.

'That eye patch is a bit punky,' she thought. She found a blue leather mini dress with a zip up the front, a studded leather collar, wrist band and belt. Fish net tights and knee-length lace up boots finished the look.

She looked in the mirror again, and copying pictures of 'punks' she'd seen in the past, gave a fist salute and grimaced. She burst out laughing. The rebellious look matched her rebellious nature.

She opened the TARDIS door to leave as the Doctor and a crowd of people were walking towards her.

"Rose! You're up and about," he exclaimed as he grabbed her in a big hug.

"Yes, I've just got to take it easy for a few days," she said, returning the hug with her right arm.

"That's a new look for you, a sort of Debbie Harry in her early punk years," he said, admiring her outfit.

"You weren't going to sneak off without me were you?" she asked him suspiciously.

The Doctor's plan, having been rehearsed, was ready to be carried out. He ran his fingers through his hair and scratched the back of his neck.

"Did you know Debbie Harry used to be a Playboy Bunny girl before she met Chris Stein and formed Blondie?" he asked her, trying to change the subject.

Rose knew him all too well. "Stop changing the subject," she told him.

"But you're still recovering from major surgery, and you said yourself that Dr Crusher told you to take it easy," he reminded her.

"Yes, but you're a magnet for trouble and you need me to watch your back," she retorted.

Although Rose was still wearing the eye patch and sling, she was insistent that she was going in the TARDIS with him.

The Doctor finally capitulated when she agreed to stay in the TARDIS and act as a lookout by watching the view screen.

* * *

The TARDIS materialized deep within the Borg cube close to the warp core, a pulsating blue cylinder of plasma contained by powerful electromagnets in rings that spanned three decks.

The task force consisted of the Doctor and Rose. Data and Geordie were the technical leads, with two lieutenants and two ensigns. Worf was the security lead with six élite soldiers to secure the area and protect the technical team.

Captain Picard was reluctant to allow a mission to the Borg cube while there was an unknown threat still running around and killing Borg.

Dr. Crusher had insisted that anything coming back from the cube must go in to a level one security quarantine. The Captain accepted his medical officer's recommendation and gave the green light to proceed.

They had gone over the details of the plan several times until everyone knew what they were doing and what to do if things didn't quite go to plan.

Worf had the overall control of the mission and if the risks became too great he would abort the mission.

The Doctor checked the view screen; it showed a long walkway with alcoves, pipes, cables and control panels. Occasionally a drone would walk past, look at the TARDIS and carry on past.

"Well the perception filter seems to work on them," the Doctor informed the team. "They don't see the TARDIS as a threat. Is everyone ready?" he asked. They all nodded. The Doctor turned to Rose and put his hands on her shoulders.

"I need you to keep an eye on the view screen." He thought about this and laughed.

"No pun intended; it'll be our escape route. If you see anything you think we might need to know about, give me a call," he told her. He hesitated as he looked around the TARDIS and then at her.

"It's time you knew something about me, a secret." He leaned forward and whispered a melodic sounding alien word in her ear.

"That sounds beautiful, what does it mean?" she asked him.

"It's my name, in my language." Rose looked wide-eyed at the Doctor. She hugged him and they kissed. The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket and took out a CD. He looked into her eye as he gave her the disc.

"If anything should happen to me…" he started.

"No," she protested. He gently put a finger on her lips.

"When you put it in the console, the TARDIS will take you home." He kissed her gently on the lips and then continued in his cheery voice,

"Any way, you can give it back to me later when we're finished." He winked at her and got a smile back.

"Right then, let's do this," he said to the group. He walked down the gangway to the doors and opened them carefully. He popped his head outside and looked left and right and then came back inside.

"All quiet," he reported. "Data, are you ready?" The android nodded, he had a thick fibre optic cable attached to the back of his head which ran down to a socket on the TARDIS control console.

"The TARDIS computer has an unusual processor architecture and command code hierarchy," Data informed them.

He turned to look at the Doctor with a puzzled expression. "I do believe I am being propositioned."

Rose looked at Data wide-eyed and her mouth open. "What! Are you telling me the TARDIS is trying to chat you up?"

With his android dead pan expression Data said. "Yes. I believe that is the colloquial expression."

Rose howled with laughter as she looked at the Doctor's face. The Doctor slapped the console. "Behave! We don't have time for this Old Girl," he told the TARDIS. Rose was giggling like a school girl.

This was priceless.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous," she said between fits of laughter.

The Doctor was flabbergasted.

He was about to protest his innocence when Data turned to them. "Connection with the Borg hub established. Accessing command infra-structure. Initiating the regeneration cycle."

The Doctor turned to Rose. "What's happening outside Rose?" he asked her.

Rose managed to regain her composure. Wiping a tear from her eye she looked at the view screen.

"They are all walking past and standing in the alcoves. They're like zombies, it's creepy," she reported back.

The Doctor opened the doors and said. "Right then, Phase two. Geordie, your team need to stop this thing from blowing up!"

Worf and his team moved out first and took up positions around the TARDIS. When he was confident that the area was secure, Worf signalled for them to come out.

Geordie and his team moved along the gloomy walkway towards the engineering control station flanked by three security guards. The Doctor and Data set off in the opposite direction towards the computer core accompanied by Worf and the other three guards.

Geordie's voice came over Worf's comm-link. "We've reached engineering control, just in time by the look of these readouts. We're bringing everything back into the green. O.K, it's safe to continue with the mission," he reported.

The next voice out of Worf's comm-link was Captain Picard's. "Mr Worf, the ships sensors have detected two life forms moving on decks below you. Are any of your team on reconnaissance below you?"

"Negative Captain, all my team are accounted for," he replied. Worf checked his tricorder. "The ships construction and the number of Borg make my tricorder ineffective at long-range scanning," he announced.

"Be aware that this may be connected to the infestation problem. We will continue to monitor the targets. Picard out."

Worf looked up from his tricorder and saw that everyone was looking at him with concern.  
"I suggest we proceed with caution. This way."

They set off again along the walk way and turned right at a junction. When the Doctor turned the corner he saw that Worf had stopped. He was stooped down examining a hole in the floor panel.

"Something appears to have corroded the metal of the floor panel," Worf reported.

"That's not the half of it," the Doctor said, looking up. There were stalactites of metal hanging down from the floor panel above. "What's this goo all over it?" he asked.

Data moved forwards with his tricorder. "Polysaccharides, some copper and trace elements."

The Doctor took a pen out of his pocket and touched the goo. "Right. Some kind of organic corrosive that oxidises into a harmless syrup, maybe some kind of venom."

Worf stood up. "We had better get moving."

They went up a set of metal stairs, along another walkway and arrived at the computer core.

It was a spherical object roughly 200 metres in diameter, suspended in an enormous chamber with numerous pipes, tubes and cables connected to it. Access was via a foot bridge over the chasm to the control interface.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, found a suitable fibre optic cable and disconnected it from the mainframe.

Data inserted the adaptor into the mainframe and the Doctor connected the cable into the adaptor. Data now had direct access to the Borg mainframe.

A minute passed as Data stared blankly ahead of him. The security team had taken up defensive positions around them. Worf was looking down the walkways and back to the Doctor and Data.

"Why do these things take so long?" he thought to himself.

Data turned his head towards the Doctor. "I have located the chipset base code instructions and three backups. We will have to insert the new instructions into each backup to prevent the system from over writing them with an old copy."

The Doctor hadn't thought of that. He took out the e-pad, handed an ear piece to Data and plugged it into the e-pad.

"Ready?" he asked Data. Data nodded and the Doctor touched the run icon on the pad. A stream of digital signals poured into Data's ear where they were processed by his positronic brain and fed into the main frame. Each file in turn was updated and a few minutes later he announced that he was ready to reboot the system.

Everything stopped. All the background noises in the cube that you don't hear until they stop. There was sudden, total darkness, darkness so dense that you could believe that the universe had suddenly ceased to exist.

Data could see perfectly well in the dark and moved to the head of the group. Worf opened his tricorder which illuminated his dark face and displayed a view of the area on the screen. The Doctor took a pen torch out of a pocket and turned it on. It lit up the area like a search light.

"Lead on then," he said in his cheery voice.

Back in the TARDIS Rose saw the monitor go black and then switch to night-vision. It was bad enough that the Borg were like zombies, now the whole place had a ghostly aura that sent a shiver down her spine.

"Oh great!" she said to herself. "Now I'm watching 'Most Haunted'." She caught some movement through the corner of her eye on the monitor. Now she really was getting spooked.

She thought she had seen a black shadow shoot across the walkway. Enough was enough. She picked up her phone and called the Doctor.

He picked up quickly. "Rose. Is everything alright?" he asked.

She explained what had happened when the monitor went to night-vision.

"Use the rewind and pause buttons on the console, you'll be able to see if anything was really there" he told her.

There was silence for a few seconds and then Rose's voice came back over the phone.

"OH MY GOD!" Her voice was full of dread.

"What is it Rose? What did you see?" he asked her urgently.

"Doctor, you've all got to get back here, now!" she said, her voice now had a hint of panic. "I think I've found the Borg's problem. It's black, shiny, has a long tail and more teeth than a great white shark."

As the Doctor was relating Rose's description to Worf, Captain Picard's voice came over the comm-link. "Mr Worf, two targets are ascending the levels and moving toward your position. We are unable to get a transporter lock on your away team due to all the power cables running through that area. I suggest you make your way back to the TARDIS as soon as possible."

Worf responded. "We are on our way now, but progress is slow. When the lights come back on we'll be able to make better time. Also Miss Tyler has seen a life form that could be responsible for the infestation aboard the cube."

Data cut in. "My tricorder shows no life forms in the immediate vicinity. The life form that Rose saw may have unique anatomy or physiology that renders it invisible to our sensors."

The Doctor had one of his moments of genius. "If it's moving around, it'll disturb the air currents from the ventilation shafts. Can you adjust your tricorder to look for unexpected eddy currents, filtering out any caused by us or the ventilation system?"

Data tapped the controls on his tricorder. "Your assumption was correct Doctor. It seems that numerous air disturbances surround us."

Everyone jumped as the low-level lighting came back on. The green lights around the regeneration alcoves flickered back to life.

Geordies voice came over the comm-link. "The power grid has stabilized and is back on automatic. We're making our way back to the TARDIS."

Data warned him about the air turbulence and advised caution.

Worf descended the stairs to the next level, the security team were now on high alert. Using hand signals, they coordinated movements down the stairs and along the walkways.

Geordie reported that they were back at the TARDIS and the security team had set up a perimeter. The number of air disturbances were increasing alarmingly.

Behind the Doctor there were several phaser shots and a clatter as a rifle hit the metal grating of the walkway.

Worf tapped his comm-link. "Lieutenant Bragga, report."

Silence.

"Lieutenant Bragga, report."

Still no response.

Worf signalled for the remaining Lieutenant to escort the away team back to the TARDIS. He turned and headed back down the walkway.

The Doctor heard a loud hiss before a heavy weight dropped on to his shoulders, knocking him to the floor. He fell on to his back and looked in to the shiny black face of the parasite that crouched over him.

It was about a metre and a half tall with a tail the same length. Its mouth opened, showing a row of metallic looking teeth.

The Doctor thought it was sticking its over sized tongue out at him before realising it was a gullet with another row of sharp teeth.

It lunged forward to attack when it suddenly disintegrated in a glow of orange light.

The Doctor tilted his head back and saw Data standing there with his phaser rifle in one hand and his other hand extended towards him.

"Thanks," the Doctor said simply as Data effortlessly pulled him to his feet.

"They appear to be swarming," Data told him. "I suggest we make haste."

The Doctor looked over his shoulder. "I have a better idea," he said. "RUN!"

Worf looked down a stairwell and saw a phaser rifle at the bottom. He quickly descended the stairs and took out his tricorder.

There was no sign of Lieutenant Bragga and a sensor sweep showed nothing in the immediate area, except for air turbulence.

The walls and ceiling on this level were different to the rest of the Borg ship. They appeared to be curved and organic.

When his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he saw that the regeneration alcoves where the Borg drones where standing were covered with the same organic material.

Only the heads of the Borg could be seen except for those that had big, gaping holes in their chests.

He put the tricorder away and picked up the rifle so that he had one in each hand. He ascended the stairs and headed for the TARDIS.

The Borg were starting to stir and Data had said it may take time for the new software to filter down to the drones. Worf started to run.

His comm-link activated. "Mr Worf, be aware one of the targets is close to your position," Captain Picard advised him.

His Klingon warrior reflexes kicked in and things appeared to happen in slow motion.

A blurred shadow shot out of a conduit to his left. The phaser rifle emitted a beam of orange light before he even thought of shooting.

He caught sight of a shiny black lizard like creature, a metre and a half tall, disintegrating in orange fire.

Phaser shots from ahead were hitting moving shadows along the walls and ceiling. The parasites were clinging to the pipes and gratings as well as moving over the floor with no loss of speed.

The Doctor was at the console preparing the TARDIS for transport. He could hear the weapons fire outside and they needed to make a rapid departure. Rose and Geordie were listening to his instructions.

"Hit that button and push that lever when I close the door," he told Rose. "I'm going to make sure everyone gets on board," and headed down the ramp to the doors.

"Doctor, be careful," Rose called after him. He looked back, grinned and disappeared out of the door.

Worf was zigzagging down the walkway, phaser shots flying past him as he ran. The Doctor saw one orange beam shimmer at the end of the walkway in a tall, humanoid shaped glow.

For a fraction of a second an armour clad Rastafarian stood there looking at them.

"What?!" Before he could say anything else, there was a flash of blue-white plasma that exploded a section of wall just behind Worf. He was catapulted through the air and landed heavily on his back.

The Doctor and lieutenant Sinclair ran forward through the dust, smoke and steam and helped Worf to his feet. They each went under a shoulder and ran toward the TARDIS. Worf was trying to get his legs working.

The lieutenant went through the door pulling Worf as the Doctor pushed. He didn't see the three red dots of light converge on his back.

"Rose, push th..." Before he could complete the sentence there was a blue-white flash that filled the TARDIS, casting stark shadows across the control room. Smoke filled the doorway, when it cleared the Doctor was nowhere to be seen.

Rose looked up from the console. "Doctor?" she asked, concern in her voice. The smoke started to clear.

"DOCTOR?" she shouted in disbelief.

"NO! DOCTOR!" she screamed in horror.

She ran down the ramp and was met by Data who held her firm.

Lieutenant Sinclair closed the door as a shiny black arm reached in and grabbed his arm. A black, elongated skull pushed through the gap in the door.

The grip on Sinclair's elbow was like a vice, holding him firm as the alien mouth opened to reveal a row of metallic teeth. Inside the mouth he saw another set of teeth moving forwards.

'This is it' he thought, he was experienced enough to know when his number was up.

The alien screeched and suddenly retreated. Sinclair looked down and saw the claw around his elbow, part of the forearm and a neat cut that had dissected it from the rest of the limb.

Worf was lying on the floor, propped up on one elbow with a maniacal grin on his face. In the other hand was his D'k'tahg, his warrior's dagger, the blade of which seemed to be dissolving.

Sinclair looked down and saw a pool of green blood on the floor of the TARDIS, while outside the metal grating of the floor had holes melting into it.

He closed the door again and another arm reached in, this time though it had a star fleet uniform on it.

"Bragga!" Sinclair shouted as the Lieutenant collapsed into his arms. "Where did you come from?" he asked.

Bragga coughed up some thick fluid and spat it out. "I,..I don't remember," he said and passed out.

As they fell to the floor, Sinclair kicked the door shut. Geordie hit the button and pushed the lever that the Doctor had shown to Rose. The TARDIS wheezed into life and started to take them back to the Enterprise.

Rose struggled against Data's grip. "NO! You can't leave him! You can't." She was hysterical with disbelief. "You don't understand. His cells regenerate, he's not dead. You can't leave him, you can't," she cried.

Sinclair stood up. "Miss Tyler," he said with compassion and authority. "There was nothing left of the Doctor to rescue. I'm sorry."

Rose collapsed into Data's arms, sobbing. "No, no, no."


	11. Chapter 11

Notes: Oh My God! I've killed the Doctor.  
Sorry about that.  
Rose returns to the Powell estate, alone.

**Chapter 11**

The TARDIS had materialized into a temporary quarantine area in Cargo Bay Four. Dr. Crusher had set up a field hospital with portable medi-beds for the wounded. She and her medical team were wearing bio-hazard suits as a precaution.

Each member of the away team was getting a full bio-scan and then teleported out to SickBay for treatment and de-briefing.

Rose was already there under mild sedation, waiting for Councillor Troi to come and be with her when she woke up.

Lieutenant Bragga had an unidentified mass in his chest and was kept in the field hospital. Leaving him with a junior doctor and specialist nurse, Beverley decontaminated and went to SickBay.

Captain Picard, Will and Deanna came into SickBay soon after. Dr. Crusher was at her desk completing her reports. She went over to the first bed were Worf was lying.

"How is he doctor?" Picard asked.

"A severe concussion, second degree burns down his left side, some shrapnel wounds. If he hadn't been a Klingon he'd be dead," she reported. "A couple of days of treatment and bed rest and he should be fine."

They moved down to Rose's bed. "Rose has had a severe shock. I've got her sedated for now but I can bring her around if you want to talk to her." Picard nodded and Dr. Crusher applied a hypo-spray to Rose's neck.

She started to stir and muttered. "Doctor? Doctor?" Deanna sat on the bed and held Rose's free hand. She could feel her pain, her grief. Rose suddenly sat up and wailed as the sedative wore off.

Deanna grabbed her and hugged her, gently rocking whispering. "Oh Rose, I'm so sorry." Tears were rolling down both their cheeks. Rose buried her face in Deanna's shoulder and started to sob.

Captain Picard stepped forward and awkwardly held Rose's free hand. "Rose, I am deeply sorry for your loss. I only just met the Doctor and yet the impression he has made on my life is one that will stay with me forever. I believe that without thought for his own safety, he went to help Worf when he fell and helped him back to the TARDIS."

Rose sniffed and wiped her nose and in a whisper said. "The Doctor told me never to say forever."

Picard looked puzzled. "Excuse me?"

"Never say forever," she repeated. "That's what the Doctor told me a few months ago in London. I said we would be together forever." She started sobbing again at the memory. "He was the last of the Time Lords, and he died doing what he always did, helping people," she said between sobs.

Dr. Crusher leaned forwards and said. "I'm going to give you something to help you sleep Rose. I can't say you'll feel better when you wake up, but you will have rested." She put the hypo-spray on Rose's neck and Deanna gently lowered her to the bed. There were a couple of small sobs and then she fell silent.

They moved on to Lieutenant Sinclair who had sustained corrosive burns to his arm from the creature's blood. He had a dressing on his arm that would repair the skin in a few hours. He gave the Captain a detailed account of the mission that he would be including in his report.

They moved back to Dr. Crusher's desk and Picard said. "I'm worried about Rose. She's light years from her home and out of her time. How will she cope, Councillor?"

Deanna responded to the Captains concerns. "Physically, her wounds from the Borg implant removal will heal in a few days. Emotionally, she will need a support network of family and friends. We need to try to contact her mother on Earth. I'm sure she has a communication device that works across time."

Picard nodded. "Good. Make the attempt, and ask Mr. Data for any assistance you need with the technology."

They were leaving the SickBay when the intercom announced, "Captain and senior staff to the bridge. Incoming transmission from the Borg ship."

* * *

Jackie Tyler had just got back from doing her weekly shop. She dropped the plastic carriers on the kitchen table and switched the kettle on for a cup of tea.

She went through to the living room and switched on the T.V, surfing through the day time programmes looking for some light-hearted chat.

There was a woman showing the presenters how to make some exotic dish that was ideal for a dinner party. 'Chance would be a fine thing,' she thought to herself.

The button on the kettle clicked and she went back into the kitchen and put a tea bag into a mug. Before she could pour the boiling water into the mug, her mobile phone started vying for her attention.

She took it out of her pocket and looked at the screen.

"Rose!" she said and flipped the phone open. "Rose. Where are you? When are you coming home? How's that Doctor of yours? Still getting into scrapes saving the universe I expect." She rattled on without giving her a chance to answer.

"Mrs Tyler?" a woman's voice asked. Jackie couldn't place the accent, slightly foreign but definitely not English.

"Who's that? Where's Rose?" Then a feeling of dread descended. "What's happened to my Rose? Who the hell is this?"

The woman's voice was calm and reassuring. "Mrs Tyler, Rose is safe and well," she said.

"Oh, thank God for that." Jackie gave a sigh of relief. "Where is she then?" she asked, getting suspicious.

"Rose is resting at the moment," the voice said. "She has been through a terrible ordeal, and has had a terrible shock and we have sedated her so that she can recover."

Jackie's dread came back. "What's happened? How is she? Who are you?"

The calm voice came back through the phone. "My name is Deanna; I'm a friend of Rose's and…, the Doctor's."

Jackie detected a slight hesitation when she mentioned the Doctor. "Mrs Tyler, may I call you Jackie?"

Jackie said. "Yes, of course."

Deanna continued. "Well Jackie, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you." There was a pause; Jackie could feel the woman steeling herself for the next sentence. "It's the Doctor. I'm afraid he's dead."

Jackie dropped into the kitchen chair, stunned into an unfamiliar loss for words. "Oh my God. Dead? The Doctor? No, that ain't possible." She started to find her words again.

Deanna's calm voice came back over the phone again. "I'm afraid it is Jackie. It was about twelve hours ago. He was helping an injured crew member. He got him into the TARDIS, but before he could reach safety himself, he was killed."

Jackie was staring at the wall opposite. It was an ordinary kitchen wall, in an ordinary flat, on an ordinary housing estate, on an ordinary world that was a million miles away from the Doctor's world.

'That was typical of him,' she thought. 'Save a life with no thought for his own.' Then anger took over. 'With no thought for Rose and what would happen to her.' Her thoughts turned back to her daughter.

"My poor baby," she said. "She'll be heartbroken. Oh Rose. My poor Rose." She fell silent, tears welling in her eyes.

"Jackie, I'm a councillor, I'll be able to help Rose initially, but she'll need a lot of support when she gets home," Deanna said. Her words brought Jackie out of her own grief.

"What? Oh yes, of course. When will she be home? I'll get her room ready for her," she asked and then thought. Deanna had said 'injured crew member'.

Jackie asked. "Where is she? Are you on a ship somewhere?"

Deanna replied. "We are aboard the star ship Enterprise. Don't worry about Rose getting home. I believe the Doctor prepared a disk that will instruct the TARDIS to bring Rose back home. She'll have a few days of counselling with me, and when she's ready, I'll send her home." Jackie thanked her and hung up.

She was numb and now full of guilt for the anger she had just felt. He had thought of Rose after all. Without thinking she re-boiled the kettle to make her cup of tea, when she heard a key in the lock.

"Who the hell's that?" she said to herself as she went into the hallway. There, standing in the doorway, in her jeans and pink hoodie, was Rose. Jackie couldn't get her head around this time travelling malarkey.

Rose looked awful. Her wounds had healed, although her left forearm was still weak. She had both her eyes now and they were red from crying, with a haunted look in them.

She started to cry and ran into her mum's arms. "Oh mum, he's gone, I've lost him."

Jackie held her tight and patted her back. "I know sweetheart, I know. My poor baby."

Jackie eventually managed to make the tea and they sat at the kitchen table drinking in silence. Jackie tried to open a dialogue.

"That Diana sounds nice," she said.

Rose looked up and smiled. "It's Deanna, and yes, she's lovely."

Jackie continued. "Oh yes, Deanna, that was it. Couldn't place the accent though."

"She's from Betazed," Rose replied.

"Where's that then? Some where in the Far East?" Jackie asked.

Rose gave a laugh. "No mum, it's a planet."

Rose fell silent. She felt guilty about laughing, when her lover was... Talking about Deanna reminded her that she had to do something. She took the e-pad out of her pocket and placed it on the kitchen table.

"Counselling," Rose said to the device. A half-metre tall hologram of Deanna stood on the table.

Jackie leaned forward for a closer look. "Is that Deanna?" she asked. Rose nodded. "She's pretty," Jackie told her.

"Thank you," the hologram replied.

Jackie leapt back in her chair. "Bloody 'ell! It talks!" she exclaimed.

The hologram spoke again. "Is it still alright if I call you Jackie?" it asked.

"Err, yes, of course," Jackie replied.

The virtual councillor continued. "Rose, we spoke before about feeling numb and being in denial," it started. "You are probably yearning for him to come back to you, and you may feel angry that he left you, and guilty that somehow it was your fault that he died."

Rose was nodding in agreement, tears stinging her eyes. "It is my fault. If he hadn't taken me on holiday we wouldn't have met you, wouldn't have ended up on the Enterprise. He wanted to bring me home, away from danger but I said we should stay and help…" She trailed off.

"Rose," the hologram said gently. "The Doctor performed a noble and selfless act to save another. From what you have told me, and from what I know of the Doctor, he would have done that regardless of where he was."

"She's right y'know love. She's got 'im bang to rights," Jackie said.

The hologram turned and spoke to Jackie next. "Jackie, remembering the Doctor is essential to allow you both to come to terms with his death. What is your earliest memory of the Doctor?"

Jackie thought about that day which seemed a life time ago. "He came to the flat and I thought he was from an insurance company. Rose deserved compensation for nearly being killed when Henrik's blew up. Turns out he blew the bloody shop up in the first place." She rolled her eyes and tutted.

Rose leapt to the Doctor's defence. "I was never in danger Mum. Well not from the explosion anyway. The shop mannequins were Autons, being controlled by the Nestene conciousness. I thought it was some of the lads in the store-room muckin' about."

Rose gave a weak smile as she remembered. "I was trapped, when his hand slipped in to mine, and he said 'RUN'. And we ran and ran and ran."

She stopped and looked at Jackie. "I suppose it's time to stop running now."

Jackie stood and bent over Rose and enveloped her in a hug. Rose returned the hug and stopped the e-pad.

"I'm exhausted mum. I think I'll go and have a lie down," Rose said.

"Tell you what, why don't you run a bath and I'll make your bed," Jackie suggested.

"Yeah, I'd like that. Thanks mum."

The next few days went by slowly for Jackie.

Rose stayed in her room mostly. Weird yet pleasant alien music coming from that e-pad gadget she'd brought back with her.

She sometimes heard her talking with the virtual Deanna about her grief. She came out for her meals, looked at the soaps on T.V without watching them and went back to her room. Jackie could hear her crying herself to sleep each night.

Late autumn sunlight came through the thin curtains of Rose's bedroom, giving the room a warm, pink glow.

"Rose?...Rose?... Morning sweetheart. I've brought you a cuppa." Jackie said as she came into the room.

Rose rolled over to take the cup. "Thanks Mum," she said, about to take the offered brew. She noticed it was being held in a mechanical appendage.

Rose screamed in terror. Her mum was dressed in the black body suit of the Borg. She was bald and grey skinned, with an ocular implant in her left eye and tubes coming out of her scalp and neck.

'Oh God no!" she thought. Somehow the nanoprobes had come with her and were infecting the Earth and it was her fault.

The Jackie Borg reached forwards and held her shoulders on the bed. Rose was paralysed like before on the Borg ship. She screamed again. "No! No! Not again, I can't take it. No!"

"Rose? ROSE? Wake up! Wake up!" It was her mum's voice. She could feel her shoulders being shaken.

"You're having a nightmare sweetheart. Please wake up," Jackie pleaded.

Rose snapped her eyes open to see the worried face of her mother looking at her in the twilight of her bedroom. She was cold with sweat and gasping for breath. Jackie could feel her trembling like a leaf in a gale force wind.

Rose silently threw herself into her mother's arms and started to cry. Jackie hugged her as tight as she could and started to cry herself.

"Oh my poor, poor baby," she sobbed as she gently rocked her back to sleep. Cocooned in her mum's embrace had been the safest Rose had felt in a long, long time.

Jackie's heart ached for her. She was her mother; she should be able to make it right.

The next day nothing was said about the nightmare. Rose couldn't tell Jackie about it and Jackie didn't want to make things worse by making Rose think about things that were too terrible to even consider.

A couple of weeks passed in the same manner. One evening, Jackie came to a decision.

"Right, we need some closure on this," she said out loud. She went into the kitchen and reached the bottle of Bacardi, a bottle of cola and a couple of glasses and went to Rose's room.

Rose was sitting on her bed with her back propped up with pillows. It was a typical young person's bedroom, it was a mess.

"Mum?" Rose looked up from the e-pad, her eyes were red.

"C'mon girl, put some of his favourite music on that thing, we're going to have a wake." Jackie poured two Bacardi and cokes, handed one to Rose and downed hers in one. She shuddered.

"God, I needed that." She poured another and raised her glass towards Rose.

"We may be the only people who know he's gone. To the Doctor." She downed her drink again and Rose followed.

Jackie continued. "I remember when you came back from your first trip with him." Jackie started to laugh. "A whole year late. What's the point of having a time machine if you can't keep track of the time. Bloody idiot. I gave 'im a right slap for that."

The alcohol started to kick in and Rose started to giggle. "He was terrified of you after that," she confided. "He said that you were one of the most awesome forces in the universe, a mother defending her child."

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "Did he now?" she asked. She raised her glass in salute and had another swig of her drink.

And so the process of healing continued. They talked and drank into the early hours. They laughed, they cried and they remembered.

More importantly they paid tribute to an person who neither looked for, nor asked for tributes. He saved worlds, civilisations and people because it was the right thing to do.

They woke up on that Friday morning of the third week with hangovers. Rose gave her Mum the Vulcan hangover cure, Jackie's eyes lit up.

"We should get that analysed, we could make a fortune," she said. Rose had to point out that it hadn't been invented yet, it would be invented by pointy eared aliens and the ingredients weren't on Earth. Jackie sighed and went into the kitchen to do the washing up.

Rose was in her dressing gown and furry slippers. She'd finally had a full nights sleep without a flash back waking her up in a sweat, although that could be down to the alcohol.

She was drinking a mug of tea curled up in front of the T.V when the midday news came on. It was the usual stories, politicians misbehaving, some actor doing something really good, another one doing something really dumb. An earthquake somewhere in the world and then, she nearly choked on her tea.

"Look, on the telly. It's the Olympic stadium. The 2012 Olympics!"

Jackie looked at her concerned that she may have finally lost it. "Yes, I know love, but it's not for another six or seven months" she reminded her.

"I know Mum. I know, but the Doctor and me were there."

Jackie looked at the T.V, mouth wide open. "Oh my God!"

Oh My God! I've killed the Doctor.  
Sorry about that.  
Rose returns to the Powell estate, alone.


	12. Chapter 12

Notes: Rose has hope. If only she can form a plan that won't destroy the universe.  
(If you want to hear Welsh Pete's voice, look up comedian Rhod Gilbert on You Tube. That was the voice that went through my mind as I wrote his dialogue.)

**Chapter 12**

After that day, Rose was back to her normal, vibrant self.

She showed her Mum how she could change her hair style with the push of a button, her face was a picture.

They squealed with laughter at her mimetic poly-alloy dress.

They sat on the settee, looking at 3D holographic pictures on the e-pad of their wonderful holiday on Risa, giving her all the details about the photos. She left out the bit about them being lovers, the Doctor was right, her Mum would kill him.

That thought brought back a pang of grief. After all she had seen him being shot, and she missed him terribly.

"Rose? Have you given any thought to how you are going to tell the Doctor that he's going to die?" Something about saving the Doctor troubled Jackie, something she was trying to put in to words.

"I've thought of nothing else. Why?" Rose could see something was worrying her Mum.

"Do you remember the film 'The Twelve Monkeys' with Bruce Willis in it?" Jackie asked.

"Sort of, it was ages ago, and a bit weird," she replied.

"Well, from what I remember of it, at the start of the film, Bruce Willis' character as a child saw a man being shot by security guards at the airport. And when he was shot at the end of the film, he saw himself as a child watching himself being shot," she explained.

"Yes, I remember it was something like that. They were trying to stop an epidemic from a biological weapon or something," Rose said.

"Right. Well it turns out that he couldn't change the past because it was destined to happen from the moment he travelled back in time."

Rose sat back on the settee, deep in thought. "But I've been with the Doctor when he's saved people, even whole civilizations."

Jackie reached over and held her hand. "All I'm saying love is that you need to be careful and think it through. If any one can save him, you can."

Rose had a sad look on her face. "I remember when I tried to save Dad. I interfered in my own past and nearly destroyed my future."

Her father had been run over when he was late for a family wedding. The Doctor had taken her back to that moment and she couldn't stand by and watch him die. Time, in the form of reapers started to devour everyone around her until she intervened again and allowed her father to be hit by the car.

Rose gave her mum a hug and stood up. "I need more information and I need to make a plan," she said.

She picked up the e-pad and opening the web browser, went through to the kitchen to sit at the table with a note pad and pencil. This was going to be hard.

By Tea time, Rose had pages of notes, diagrams, dates and doodles. She was mentally exhausted by trying to think in the fourth dimension.

She understood so little about it that it was impossible to form any kind of plan to warn the Doctor about his impending doom.

Jackie came in to the kitchen to start cooking and could see that Rose was unhappy.

"Things not going well?" she asked.

"I can't get my head around what happens when and how to warn him without affecting the outcome." She looked up at her mum, looking for inspiration, but her mum knew less about time travel than she did.

"Tell you what, how's about a cottage pie for tea. That'll cheer you up and then you can start fresh on a full stomach," Jackie suggested. That sounded good to Rose, she loved her mum's cottage pie.

"Hey, I've just had a thought. Why don't you pop down to that book shop in the shopping centre. You know, the one that does all those comic books and science fiction stuff. I've seen Peter Davies working in there, I bet he could help you."

Rose looked questioningly at her mum. "Who?"

Jackie looked up to the ceiling and back at Rose. "Peter Davies. I used to do his mum's hair. You remember, they moved from Swansea and he started at the same school as you."

Rose suddenly realized who she was talking about. "Welsh Pete, a year above me at school," she said.

"That's him. Margaret used to tell me he was into all that science fiction stuff."

Rose sat and thought about that. He might have a better handle on how it all worked.

"Mum, you're brilliant," she told her as she stood and grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair.

"I'll be back for cottage pie. See you later." She gave her mum a peck on the cheek and disappeared out of the door.

The 'Other Worlds' book shop was tucked away in a corner of the shopping precinct. It wasn't really a book shop as it sold American style comic books, paperbacks, console games, DVD's and various prop's and action figures. It had a cult status among the 'nerdy' teenagers that visited it.

Rose entered the shop and was amazed by all the items that had been crammed inside.

There was a young man wearing a baseball cap behind the counter, reading a comic book. Was that Welsh Pete? Blimey, he'd grown since Rose had last seen him at school.

"Can I help you at all?" he asked in a strong Welsh accent.

"Pete?" Rose asked.

"Yes?" he replied wondering who wanted to know.

"Is it Rose? Rose Tyler?" His face lit up. "Blimey! Last time I saw you, you had pigtails, spots and braces on your teeth. Look at you now, all grown up," he said.

Rose laughed. "And you used to go around with your shirt tail hanging out."

Pete laughed and said. "The thing is, I still do."

They chatted for a while, catching up on old times. Who they'd kept in touch with, who'd done what and moved where.

"Who was it you used to snog? Jimmy Stone? No he was a waster. Mickey Smith wasn't it. Are you still seeing him?" Pete asked her.

Rose faltered for a moment, how did she tell him he'd decided to stay in an alternate universe.

"Er, no. Not any more. He moved abroad, a security consultant or something. We are still mates though," she told him.

"It sounds like he's done alright for himself then," Pete said.

Rose took a deep breath and made her opening move. "I'm with someone else now. We do a lot of travelling. In fact that's part of the reason I'm here. He's a science fiction fan and we were having a light-hearted argument about time travel. You know the one about the paradox of killing your own grandfather?"

Pete nodded. "That old chestnut," he said.

"Well, I wondered if someone had an accident and died, could you travel back in time to a place where you knew they would be and warn them about the accident. He said the warning would set in place a series of events that would bring about the accident. I said that a message sent to them just before the accident could avert it. What do you think? I hate it when he's always right and I hate losing an argument." Rose hoped that she'd pitched all the stuff she'd read on the internet just right.

Pete straightened up and whistled. "Mmm, that's a tough one. Both scenarios have been used in movie plot lines. Twelve Monkeys, Back To The Future and the Terminator films. And also in the Terminator films, who actually creates the microchip in the terminators head? It seems to spontaneously pop into existence."

Rose had seen these films but never understood the ideology behind them.

"So let's say we travelled 300 hundred years into the future and he had an accident and was killed out in space somewhere. I come back to now in the time machine and know that we had also travelled forward to the 2012 Olympics. How would I be able to send a message 300 years into the future, into outer space, to prevent the accident and still be able to be with him?" she asked.

Pete looked at her like a rabbit in the car headlights. "Blimey! I'm going to have to think about that one. I'll read up on some of the fan sites and see what the latest thinking is," he told her. "Have you got a mobile? Give me your number and I'll give you a ring."

Rose took her phone out and found the number, she could never remember it.

She left the shop and went home for tea. Her mood was low, she had come away with more questions than answers.

Two days later, her phone rang. It was Welsh Pete.

"Hiya Rose. Its Pete. I think I've cracked it. You know that little argument you wanted to win?" he said.

"Oh Pete, You're brilliant. Shall I come around to the shop?" she asked.

"Well you could," he replied. "But I finish at five. Are you still living on the Powell estate?" he asked her.

"Yes, I'm stayin' with my mum," Rose told him.

"Tell you what then, I have to come past there on my way home. I'll pop in and bring all the details with me, it's a bit convoluted I'm afraid."

Rose looked up at her mum. "Can Pete come around on his way from the shop? He's worked out how I can save the Doctor," she said.

"Of course he can love. Does he want any tea?"

Rose went back to the phone. "That'll be fine Pete. Mum wants to know if you want any tea."

Pete responded. "No, me Mum will have the tea on when I get home. A cuppa would be nice though. What's your address Rose so that I can find you?" Rose gave him the address and said goodbye.

"Hello Mrs. Tyler," Pete said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, hello Peter. How's your mother these days?" Jackie asked.

"She's fine thank you Mrs. Tyler, I'll tell her you were asking after her."

Rose sat down at the table and Pete sat opposite. Jackie put two mugs of tea on the table. Pete opened his backpack and took out some papers.

"Have you got money riding on this Rose? You certainly have a big interest in it," he laughed.

Rose smiled at him and looked at her Mum. "I've got a lot riding on it, but it's not money," she answered.

Pete's eyebrows raised as he spread the papers on the table. "Right then lady of mystery, this is what we think. We, being the people on the fan sites," he started.

He unrolled a sheet of paper and put his cup on the one end. It had several lines of different lengths, crosses, circles and interconnecting lines between them.

"This red line here is your time-line" he started.

"Red for Rose," Jackie noticed. Pete just looked at her and returned to his explanation.

"It goes from now to 2012, the Olympics. It continues to 300 years into the future. This green loop is where the time machine brings you back to now and starts a new green time-line." So far, so good. Rose and Jackie could see that.

"This next line in blue is your boyfriends," he continued.

"Oh, blue for boyfriend," Jackie smiled. Pete ignored her.

"You see that it also goes to 2012 and 300 years into the future and then this cross is where he meets his sticky end." Rose and Jackie looked at each other, a bit distressed.

Pete saw the look and said. "What? It's only imaginary, it can't really happen.

Anyway, you are now on a new time-line on your own, because you and your boyfriend are still travelling and enjoying the Olympics. See?" Rose and Jackie nodded, they saw.

"Now here's the tricky bit, to save your boyfriend, you have to get a message from this present green time-line over to your previous red time-line. In Back To The Future III, the Doc sends a message from the Wild West to Marty in the 1950's by using a mail courier that keeps the message on file for nearly a hundred years with instructions to deliver it to a certain location, on a certain day, at a specific time."

Rose and Jackie continued to nod. They'd watched those DVD's together many times.

"Now, this is where I had problems with the scenario you gave me Rose. 300 years is a long time to keep a message and get it delivered at exactly the right time. Also, I don't think Fed Ex deliver to outer space." Pete grinned at that one. Rose and Jackie just looked at him, straight-faced.

'Boy. Tough crowd,' he thought.

"But then it was you, Rose who gave me the method of delivering the message," he told her.

"Me?" Rose said.

"Yes, you gave me your mobile phone number. Your mobile phone that travels along both time lines. Your mobile phone that you can put reminders on that alert you to a forth coming event, like an accident." Pete stopped and looked at their faces.

Rose's mouth suddenly dropped open, the penny had dropped. "I put a message on my phone set to go off before the accident so that I can prevent it, and then switch my phone with, well, my other phone," she said.

Jackie's mouth dropped open as well. She understood what Rose had said.

"Back of the net! To be on the safe side though, so you don't destroy reality, the message should be directed at someone outside your time-lines to take action on your behalf. Because you would have been at the original accident you would know the circumstances and who was present," he concluded.

"Pete, that's genius. How d'you think of all this stuff?" Rose asked him.

"To be honest, I'm a bit of a nerd really," he admitted. "Oh, one thing though, you would have to know what time and date your phone was set to at the time of the accident, or you couldn't set the reminder to go off at the right time."

Rose and Jackie closed their mouths. Rose frowned in thought. The viewer on the TARDIS, it had a time stamp in the corner when she saw the Doctor get shot.

"I can do that!" she shouted. "Mum, I can do it."

Pete looked a bit confused. "Excuse me. Do what?"

Rose looked at her Mum and then at Pete. "Have you got ten minutes to spare? I want to show you something."

The TARDIS had materialized by the garages at the back of the flats. Its perception filter meant that although it could be seen, nobody paid it any attention, even the graffiti artists. Rose, Jackie and Pete stood outside.

Rose took the chain from around her neck that had the key on it. "Pete, what you're about to see is top-secret and a bit weird. You have to promise you won't tell anyone about this."

Pete was curious. "Ooh, lady of mystery again. Okay, go on then, I promise," he said.

Rose put the key in the lock and hesitated. She hadn't been inside the TARDIS since she'd been back. There were too many memories.

She looked at her Mum for support. Jackie squeezed her arm and nodded. With that she turned the key, pushed the door open and went in. She turned around and waited for Pete to enter.

His head popped around the door and his jaw dropped. "WHAT?!" he said. "No! Never! It can't be." He ran out the door and looked all around the outside, everyone did it. He came back inside where Rose and Jackie were smiling at him.

"I'll tell you what it's like. It's like one of those 'Magic Eye' pictures, where your eyes go all funny. It makes your brain hurt," he said. Rose and Jackie were laughing now.

"Bugger me. This is THE blue box! The actual blue box!"

Rose and Jackie looked at each other. "You mean you know about the TARDIS?" Rose asked him.

"Is that what it's called? It's on all the conspiracy websites. Some say that when the blue box appears, something bad will happen. Like a portent of doom. Others say that it appears because something bad is already happening and it brings a champion for Earth," he told them.

"It's definitely the last one," Rose said.

She had forgotten about the conspiracy websites. She had met someone off one of those sites after her first encounter with the Doctor, and had tried to find out who he was. Little did she know then that it would change her life forever.

Pete had a sudden realisation. "Wait a minute, are you telling me that the mysterious man they call 'The Doctor' is real? And he's your boyfriend?"

Rose nodded, a big grin on her face.

"And this scenario you gave me is for real isn't it?" he continued.

Rose's expression became serious. "Yes I'm afraid it is, and I need to stop it from happening."

Over the coming months, Welsh Pete became a frequent visitor to the TARDIS. It was bigger on the inside. He got a kick out of that every time.

Christmas and New Year came and went quickly. Pete took Rose to some of her old haunts. She met with her best friend Shareen along with some of her other friends.

He had helped Rose to work out what the time was when the Doctor got shot, by looking at the current readings on the viewer and subtracting the reading from the white-out when the Doctor got hit by the plasma bolt. Rose couldn't bring herself to watch that part.

She worked out what to put in the message, Pete told her to keep it simple and think hard about what she was doing at the time, and who was where.

They formulated a plan for switching the phones when Pete had a realization. "Rose? You know when we switch the phones, it will set in motion a chain of events that will result in you never coming back," he said.

"That's the general idea," she agreed.

"But that means the moment I hand over the phone, this time line will cease to exist. I'll disappear right in front of your eyes, and that'll give the game away big time." Rose hadn't thought of that, it was another one of those fourth dimensional things she couldn't get her head around.

'It's amazing the Doctor hasn't gone insane,' she thought to herself. There again, maybe he had. It would certainly explain some of his eccentric ways that she loved and missed. They would have to think of a distraction when he handed the phone back.

The time for the phone switch was now approaching fast.

Rose was getting nervous now, she knew that she only had one shot at this and it had to go right first time or she would be destined to spend the rest of her life without the Doctor, and that was unthinkable.

Rose thought that the best opportunity would be before the Olympics when the Olympic torch went past. The Doctor had been trapped in a drawing by a young, frightened alien called an Isolus and she was on her own at that point.

They visited the street where she would be standing when the Olympic torch would go by. She would have to throw the alien Isolus egg into the torch. If Pete came up to her and started chatting to her after that, she would be relaxed and have time to talk to him.

They rehearsed the conversations and movements again and again until it was second nature, and that they had thought of as many variables that may occur as possible.

It was Saturday, the 21st of July, 2012. Rose was up early. In fact she hadn't slept much that night. She had butterflies in her stomach and her mouth was dry.

Jackie came out of her bedroom in her dressing gown and switched on the kettle. "Do you want a cuppa before we go out?" she asked Rose.

"No thanks Mum, I'm so nervous I think I'd throw up," she said. Rose went over to her Mum and gave her a hug.

"Y'know Mum if this goes right, none of this will've happened. I just want to say thanks for being the best Mum in the world."

Jackie felt a tear in her eye. "Oh Rose. I only did what any mother would do for their kids," she said. "Now get out there and get your Doctor back. You won't find another one like 'im around here."

Rose hesitated, if this time line ended then it didn't matter. "Mum, there's something I've got to tell you about the Doctor and me. We were.., well, we..."

"Were lovers?" Jackie said. Rose's eyes were wide and her mouth was open.

"How d'you know?" Rose asked, blushing.

"I'm your mother. It's my job to know," she laughed. She grabbed Rose and gave her a big hug. "Now you go and get 'im and bring 'im back here, I want to give 'im a piece of my mind. Getting 'imself killed and leaving you on your own, grieving."

Rose laughed and kissed her Mum on the cheek. "He was afraid of a telling off from you, but not for that."

Jackie got dressed. They put their jackets on and went out the door.

Pete was already waiting outside the TARDIS when Rose and Jackie got there. Inside, they went over the final rehearsal, checking every detail.

Eventually Rose said. "Pete, I know in a couple of hours time none of this will have happened, but I just wanted to say thanks for being a mate. I couldn't have done any of this without you." She grabbed him and gave him a big hug.

"Hey, steady on. You'll have me crying in a minute. I wouldn't have missed this for anything," he said, looking around the TARDIS. "This Doctor of yours must be an amazing bloke. It's a pity I'll never meet him."

Rose smiled at him and said. "Never say never Pete, because you never know."

They made the bus journey for the last time and arrived at their destination with an hour to spare.

Crowds had already started to gather along the route to see the Olympic torch pass by.

Rose took her phone out of her jacket pocket and gave it to Pete. "Well, it's all up to you two now," she said. "I'd better go now before she,... before I see me."

They stood in silence for a while and then Rose leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good luck and goodbye," she said. He smiled awkwardly. He'd enjoyed his time with Rose and had looked forward to their meetings in the TARDIS. All that would end as soon as he switched the phones.

"It's been a laugh hasn't it? I won't let you or the Doctor down," he told her and moved into the crowd without another word.

She turned to her mum and gave her a long hug. "Thanks Mum, for everything."

Jackie returned the hug and said, "I'll see you both later."

Rose smiled. "No you won't Mum. If this works,... oh never mind. See you later."

Jackie turned and headed off into the crowd.

"Boy, this is weird," Pete thought to himself as he saw Rose moving through the crowd up ahead.

He saw her talk to a police officer, asking if she could get nearer and being sent back.

She moved back and watched the torch-bearer jog down the road. She looked down at her hands and then threw something over the heads of the crowd towards the torch.

The torch-bearer stumbled as the torch flared bright. Rose jumped up and down and punched the air in triumph.

"Oh well, here goes." He manoeuvred through the crowd and came up behind her. He made his move.

"Rose? It's Rose Tyler isn't it?" he asked her. She turned around and looked at him, trying to identify him.

He continued, "Blimey! Last time I saw you, you had pigtails, spots and braces on your teeth. Look at you now, all grown up." He watched her face for a spark of recognition, and then it came.

"Welsh Pete? Is that you?" she asked. Inside, he breathed a sigh of relief. Phase one completed now to move to phase two.

"Fancy seeing you here," she said.

"Probably doing the same as you," he announced. Rose looked puzzled, she doubted he was trying to send an alien home and rescue a time lord.

"The Olympic flame, it's symbolic and I suppose we'll only get to see this once." Pete started chatting about school and old friends as they walked through the crowds, trying to renew a friendship.

Phase two complete, she was distracted but friendly. Time for the final phase. "Tell you what Rose, we'll have to meet up with the old crowd and go out for a drink."

Rose looked at him and smiled. "I travel around a lot lately, but that'd be nice," she said. She hadn't seen many of her old friends since she'd been travelling with the Doctor.

"Have you got a mobile? I'll give you my number," he said. Rose reached into her pocket and took out her phone.

"I've got one just like that. Here, hand it over and I'll put my number in for you." Pete took it in his left hand and turned slightly to look down the road where the torch-bearer had run.

He put Rose's phone in his jacket pocket, simultaneously taking the other phone out of his right jacket pocket with his right hand.

"It won't take him long to get to the stadium at that pace," he said to explain why he had turned away. He pretended to put his number in and then closed it. "There you go then. It was good to see you again Rose, send my regards to your mum won't you. I'll see you around. Oh, and enjoy the games."

As Pete handed back the phone he looked over Rose's shoulder and saw Jackie waiting for her cue.

At that moment Rose thought she heard her mum calling her name. She looked around as she took the phone, but couldn't see her mum anywhere in the crowd.

When she looked back, Pete had already gone. She scanned the crowd quickly but couldn't see him. Shrugging, she turned and started to make her way back to Dame Kelly Holmes Close to find the Doctor.

He had been trapped in a child's drawing by a young Isolus, who was alone, scared and confused.

She had thrown the Isolus egg into the Olympic flame. With everyone on Earth focussed on the flame, the energy would allow it to be able to get back into space and back to its family.


	13. Chapter 13

Notes: Rose is back on the Enterprise. They capture an alien parasite, and Rose goes Christmas shopping in London with Deanna and her mum.

**Chapter 13**

"Hit that button and push that lever when I close the door," the Doctor told Rose. "I'm going to make sure everyone gets on board." And he headed down the ramp to the doors.

"Doctor, be careful," Rose called after him as her mobile phone played a jingle. Her mum sent texts at the most awkward times. The Doctor looked back, grinned and disappeared out of the door.

Rose took her phone out of her pocket without looking at it, she was watching the viewer. She could see these black aliens all over the walkway. The security officers were deadly accurate with their weapons.

There was something different about the jingle on her phone.

She could see Worf dodging from side to side as he approached.

She looked down at her phone. She didn't have a text from her mum, she had a reminder. But she never used the reminder on her phone, how could she have a reminder? She pressed the OK button and froze with her mouth open.

'The Doctor is about to be killed. Tell Data to pull him into the TARDIS now!' the message read. She just stood there looking at the bizarre message on her phone.

Another jingle played and another reminder was waiting. She pressed OK again and this time there was no doubt about the message's intent. 'DO IT NOW!' it read.

Rose looked at Data, who was standing by the console.  
"Data, the Doctor is in danger. Get him in now!" she shouted.

Data didn't question Rose's instruction like a human might have. He made an enormous leap from the console to the door just as Lieutenant Sinclair and Worf appeared in the doorway.

The Doctor was just about to shout to Rose to start the TARDIS when Data reached past them and grabbed the Doctor by the scruff of the neck and pulled.

The Doctor flew over Worf and Sinclair, partly propelled by the explosion of light that filled the doorway. He landed on the floor of the TARDIS with an 'Ooff'.

Rose ran down the ramp and knelt beside him. The soles of his trainers were smoking. "Are you alright?" she asked. "I thought I'd lost you then."

There was a commotion by the door. Data was trying to close the door when a black claw grabbed his arm. A head was trying to push in, but Data's immense strength kept the door from opening.

Data could see a row of metallic teeth in the doorway, with another set of teeth on an extendable gullet snapping through the gap.

The alien screeched and suddenly retreated. Data looked down and saw the claw around his elbow, part of the forearm and a neat cut that had dissected it from the rest of the limb.

Worf was lying on the floor, propped up on one elbow with a maniacal grin on his face. In the other hand was his D'k'tahg, his warrior's dagger, the blade of which seemed to be dissolving.

Data's acute vision had spotted something else outside. Faster than the eye could follow, he reached outside, pulled in Lieutenant Bragga and shut the door.

Rose and the Doctor looked away from the door to each other. He was grinning and she was angry. She straddled him and slapped his shoulder.

"I thought I told you to be careful," she said. "And who was that shooting at us anyway?" she asked him.

"Bob Marley, I think," he replied.

She grabbed his head with her right hand and started feeling for a lump. "Have you had a bang to the head, mister?"

He was still grinning at her as she held his head and gave him a long, emotional kiss. "I should nearly be killed more often," he said, coming up for air.

"Don't you dare," she said as she kissed him again. They heard the TARDIS wheezed into life, Geordie had pressed the button and pushed the lever.

"Did I do that right, Doctor?" Geordie asked.

The Doctor couldn't speak because he was having his face snogged off by Rose. He raised his arm and gave a 'thumbs up'.

Trying to be helpful and without any intended humour, Data said. "Rose, Doctor, if you would like a room to be intimate, there are a number of guest quarters available on the Enterprise."

Rose stopped kissing him and with a quizzical look said, "Is he telling us to get a room?"

They looked at him and then back to each other and burst out laughing.

* * *

The TARDIS had materialized in a temporary quarantine area in Cargo Bay Four.

Dr. Crusher had set up a field hospital with portable medi-beds for the wounded. She and her medical team were wearing bio-hazard suits as a precaution.

Each member of the away team was getting a full bio-scan and then teleported out to Sick Bay for treatment and de-briefing.

Captain Picard, Will and Deanna came into Sick Bay soon after the Doctor and Rose had been given the all clear and beamed in.

Dr. Crusher was at her desk completing her reports. When she saw the Captain she went over to the first bed where Worf was lying.

"How is he, doctor?" Picard asked.

"A severe concussion, second degree burns down his left side, some shrapnel injuries. If he hadn't been a Klingon he'd probably be dead," she reported. "A couple of days of treatment and bed rest and he should be fine."

The Doctor came over to see how Worf was doing.

Worf raised his head to look at the Doctor. "They tell me Doctor that you do not use weapons, disagree with violence and yet you have the heart of a warrior," he said as he held out his hand.

They clasped forearms as the Doctor said in perfect Klingon. "Pa' DIchDaq taH latlh jajmey Daq Hegh." (There will be other days to die)

Worf's eyes widened in surprise. "Tu' batlh Daq yIntaH." (Find glory in living)

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

Data came over and spoke to Rose. "Rose, I am puzzled by how you knew the Doctor was in danger?" The Doctor was curious about that too.

"I didn't know," she told him. "I had a reminder on my phone telling me he was about to die."

The Doctor had that puzzled look on his face. "Remind yourself that something's about to happen?" he said.

"Here, see for yourself," she said. She handed the Doctor her phone, and he put his glasses on and read the messages.

"And you don't know how the reminder got on here?" he asked her.

"No idea. I never use the reminder function," she told him.

The Doctor looked even more puzzled, when suddenly the phone played another jingle.

He handed the phone to Rose and she started to read the reminder. She stopped, looked at the Doctor and handed him the phone. "It's for you."

The Doctor took the phone and started to read.

'Rose, if you love the Doctor as much as I know you do, stop reading and hand him the phone,' it read. The rest of the message was a detailed account of the plan to save him.

"Who's Welsh Pete?" he asked her.

It was Rose's turn to look puzzled. "That's someone I used to know at school. Funnily enough, I bumped into him a while back, just before the Olympics," she replied.

"He bumped into you more like." He continued to read to the end, the last part being 'Although he'll never know what he did, I want you to know who saved your life. All my love, Rose.'

The Doctor quickly deleted the message. He held Rose by the shoulders and looked seriously into her eye. "In another time line, you did something very foolish and very dangerous that could have destroyed every time line that's ever existed," he told her.

Rose was both hurt and horrified at the same time. She felt like she was back at school in front of the head master.

"However," he grinned, "because you are brilliant and Welsh Pete is a genius, you saved my life." He pulled her forwards and gave her a big hug.

Will reached his arm around Deanna's waist and pulled her close, she rested her head on his shoulder. "Aaah, look at those two," he told her. "They were made for each other."

Rose felt the Doctor tense up. She put her hands on his chest and looked up at him. He was looking at Will with a dumb-struck expression on his face.

"What?!" he exclaimed. "Of course! Made for each other."

He looked down at Rose and for an instant she saw the whole of time and space reflected in those wonderful dark eyes.

"What's the matter?" she asked him.

He started grinning and babbling. "When you took my hand. The fixed point in time. The heart of the TARDIS and the vortex in your head."

"Doctor?" Rose called to him.

"Bad Wolf, I took the energy with a kiss. Wow! What a kiss that was. It shaped my regeneration."

"DOCTOR," Rose shouted. He looked at her in complete wonderment.

"Try to remember that our brains work at a snail's pace, and then explain what the hell you're on about," she said.

She saw Data through the corner of her eye about to quote the computational speed of his positronic brain, when she put her hand up to stop him.

"Oh, right," the Doctor said. He was so excited. "Rose, we were made for each other," he said simply, and then started to babble at a slower pace. "Well, when I say we were made for each other. You were the random, chance coupling of two 'X' chromosomes. But me, I was made for you."

"Hang on. What d'you mean, 'random chance coupling?" Rose started to ask, but he was on a roll.

"You don't remember much about it, but you had the time vortex in your head when you saved me from the Daleks on Satellite 5. It was killing you so I took it from you with a kiss. That not only initiated my regeneration, it shaped it. I became the Good Wolf to your Bad Wolf. We are two parts of the whole. Yin and Yang. I regenerated to be the perfect match for you, your soul mate. We make each other whole. That is why our first touch became a fixed point in time," he finished and Rose just looked in astonishment.

The Doctor held her shoulders and kissed her full on the lips.  
Time slowed down for them as their lips sealed around their mouths, their tongues starting a slow waltz inside.

Rose became acutely aware that people were watching them. No, they were staring. Some looked on in amazement.

Will's eyes crinkled shut with mirth because his grin was too big for his face. Deanna wore a warm, affectionate smile and Data, with no expression on his face was calculating the pressure excerpted on their lips, observing which muscle groups worked in combination to form a kiss, and how long it would be before Rose passed out from lack of gaseous exchange in her lungs.

Rose was asking herself the same question but knew if she took a breath this gorgeous moment would end.

GASP! Eventually she came up for air. "Wow!" was all she could manage to gasp.

Data raised a hand to say something but the Doctor stopped him. "No, Data, we don't need a room."

Rose turned to look at Data and, with a cheeky grin on her face said. "Not just yet anyway." She gave the Doctor a wink.

"Captain and senior staff to the bridge. Incoming transmission from the Borg ship," a voice said over the intercom.

The Captain looked at the Doctor. "Doctor, Rose. Would you care to join me on the bridge? I think we are about to find out if the plan worked."

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other and grinned. "Yes, please," they said together.

Captain Picard stepped out of the turbo-lift followed by the rest of the group. "On screen," he commanded.

Data sat at his station and tapped the console, a Borg drone appeared on the main viewer.

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

The Borg drone looked down and then back at the screen. "We, are, not the Borg. I, am not Borg. I am... Vulcan. I am Vulcan, I am T'vrok of Vulcan. I need, no, we need assistance."

Captain Picard was listening for the voices in his head. He could just make them out and they were different, they had consciousness.

"Oh, well done, Doctor." He looked back at the Doctor. "Well done."

He looked at Deanna. "Do you sense anything, councillor?" he asked her.

"Confusion, fear, panic, all the emotions that you would expect from people in their situation."

Picard smiled and turned to the main viewer. "This is Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise. Welcome back Mr T'vrok. Stand by while we assemble our away teams."

For a Vulcan, T'vrok's voice had a hint of emotion in it when he replied. "Thank you, Captain Picard. Thank you."

The Doctor looked at Rose. "Well, I suppose I'd better get you home. You'll be wanting to see your mum," he said.

"I thought you were going to have a game of poker," she replied.

"I think this lot are going to be a bit busy for poker for a while," he told her.

They walked over to the Captain and the Doctor held out his hand. "Captain Picard. It's been a pleasure to meet you."

Picard shook his hand and leaned over to kiss Rose on the cheek. "Doctor. Rose, the pleasure has been all mine. The Federation owes you a debt of gratitude it can never repay. Rose, you look after him, he's a remarkable man with what appears to be a talent for finding trouble."

Rose laughed and said, "Tell me about it!"

The Captain turned to Will and Deanna. "Number One, Councillor, perhaps you would like to escort our guests to their ship and release it from the containment field."

Will grinned. "My pleasure," he said. Deanna linked her arm with Rose's good arm and they all walked over to the turbo lift and stepped inside.

A panic-stricken voice came over the intercom. "Medical Emergency in Cargo Bay Four. Dr Crusher to Cargo Bay Four with cardio-pulmonary bypass equipment. Medical emergency."

Beverley Crusher acknowledged the call and fastened up her bio-hazard suit that she was still wearing. She put on the helmet and went over to the medical instruments. She picked up a semicircular panel that would fit over someone's chest when they were lying down.

She spoke into her comm-link. "One to beam from Sick Bay to Cargo Bay Four, priority one." She disappeared in a shimmering light.

* * *

Cargo Bay Four looked like a disaster zone when the Doctor, Rose, Will and Deanna arrived.

There was blood every where, the junior doctor and the nurse were performing CPR on Lieutenant Bragga.

When Dr. Crusher materialized she immediately placed the panel over Bragga's chest and activated the controls on the side which then took over the CPR. A display on the side gave a readout of his vital signs.

"What happened here?" Dr. Crusher asked. The junior doctor looked shocked and pale.

"Something burst out of his chest. A small creature with a long cranium and a lot of teeth. It literally bit its way out," he said.

"Ugh." Rose felt like she wanted to throw up.

"Where is it now?" Will asked.

"We don't know," said the nurse. "It moved so fast and we were focussed on keeping our patient alive."

"That sounds like a baby of one of the things that tried to kiss Commander Data." They all turned to look at Sinclair who had entered the cargo bay. He was holding a phaser rifle. Captain Picard and Data entered the cargo bay behind him.

He turned to Captain Picard. "Captain, these things are fast, damn near invisible and as deadly as hell. If we could catch one, we could study it and try to find a weakness."

The Captain looked thoughtful. "Know your enemy, and you do have first hand knowledge of this enemy. Very well then, Lieutenant, but I want Mr. Data in there with you. His reflexes may be of use to you. Dr. Crusher is it safe to beam your patient to Sick Bay now?"

Dr. Crusher looked up and scanned Bragga with her tricorder. "There are no more parasites on or in the patient. He will need major thoracic surgery and possibly an artificial heart," she replied. A few seconds later they disappeared from the containment field.

Data stepped forward. "Captain, I suggest that we leave the containment field intact and use the transporter pad to beam in."

The Captain nodded. "Good idea. Make it so, Mr. Data. And good luck."

They stepped over onto the pad and Data activated the transporter.

Once inside the containment field, they slowly did a visual sweep of the area. Data then set the tricorder to scan for eddy currents in the air. However, if it wasn't moving, it wasn't showing on the scan.

Sinclair adjusted the rifle to heavy stun. "Okay, I'm going to start a systematic firing pattern. The stun setting probably won't touch it, but it should flush it out."

Data put away the tricorder and stood next to Sinclair. "I am ready to proceed. Fire when ready."

Orange beams of light shot out of the phaser rifle as the pair slowly rotated in a circle.

One shot went under a medical couch, and a blurred animal the size of a cat flew at Sinclair. He stood looking at a set of double jaws, staring down the throat of the creature.

Data was holding it by the neck and the tail. "Lieutenant, set up the stasis field on the bed."

Sinclair erected a pair of poles on the bed and switched them on. A blue light glowed in each column. Data threw the creature between the columns, its legs free wheeling, trying to get purchase on the air itself to escape. It hit the invisible field and froze in mid-flight.

"Well done, you two," the Captain said. "Now let's see if we can find its Achilles heel."

The Doctor looked at Rose, and she knew that look.

"I guess we'll be staying for a bit longer," she said. He kissed her on the cheek and went to offer his help to Data.

Deanna came over to Rose and put an arm around her shoulders. "Feeling a bit home sick?" she asked her, although she already knew. Her Betazed empathy could feel the longing for home.

Rose smiled at her. "How do you all cope with being away from your homes for so long?"

Deanna put her councillor 'hat' on. "Well, it's part of my job to help people talk through their feelings," she started, and then her eyes lit up. "And we have a wonderful piece of equipment on board. I prescribe a session for you," she said, grinning.

Rose was a bit dubious about a prescription. Deanna laughed. "You'll love it," she told Rose. "And while the boys are tinkering with their experiments, they won't give a thought to us."

Rose smiled. Deanna was right, when the Doctor got involved with something everything else was forgotten.

"Okay, I'll try it!"

* * *

They stood in a corridor outside some large, orange doors that were recessed into the wall, and in the alcove were some controls. Deanna activated the recorder.

"Tell me, Rose, what's one of your favourite memories from home?" she asked.

Rose thought about that for a while. She had so many fond memories, but one finally stood out from the crowd. "Oxford street in London, a week before Christmas. I was Christmas shopping with my mum. It was late afternoon and getting dark. The Christmas lights were on, all the shop windows had Santa's and reindeer, elves and decorated trees. The Salvation Army were playing carols and there were carol singers and street performers. The whole atmosphere was magical." She stopped talking, a far away look in her eyes.

"Do you have a picture of your mother?" Deanna asked her.

"Yes, on my phone," she answered. Rose took out her phone and flicked through the pictures of her mum and showed her a video of Jackie doing karaoke in the living room with a hair brush as a microphone.

Deanna laughed at some of the impromptu snaps. "She looks like a real fun person," she said.

Rose smiled. "Yeah, she's my best friend as well as my mum."

Deanna stopped the recording. "That should be enough," she announced.

A woman's voice came from the panel. "Programme initiated. Enter when ready."

The orange doors opened with a deep 'swoosh' and Rose nearly fainted. There in front of her was Oxford Circus, just has she had described it.

They stepped forwards, and the doors 'swooshed' shut behind them and disappeared, completing the illusion.

Crowds of people were milling about. Shoppers with bags full of Christmas goodies. Parents with children in tow, eyes full of excitement. The sound of 'Jingle Bells' being played by the Salvation Army brass band filtered down the street. Rose realised her mouth was wide open when flakes of snow entered it.

"What? How?" She couldn't form the questions, she was so stunned.

"Rose?"

She looked across the street and there was Jackie, her mum.  
"Mum?" she shouted as she started to cross the street. With her eye patch on, she didn't see the black cab as it sounded its horn

"Watch where you're goin', Blondie," the cabbie shouted at her.

"Sorry," she replied as she dodged the traffic and reached her mum, giving her a big hug. "What the hell are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Christmas shopping and on the bus," Jackie replied, looking puzzled at the questions.

Rose looked back at Deanna, who was grinning. "What's going on?" she asked her.

Deanna came over to them. "Is there somewhere we can go to get out of this weather and have a cup of chocolate? I'll try to explain."

Inside a coffee shop nearby, they sat drinking their beverages while 'In Dulci Jubilo' played quietly in the background. The Jackie hologram was drinking tea, Rose had a Cappuccino and Deanna had a hot chocolate.

Rose noticed her Mum's voice wasn't quite right. The computer had taken Rose's voice and aged it.

Deanna started to explain the holodeck to Rose. "A holodeck combines transporter technology with that of replicators, by generating holographic images in 3D space as well as projecting force fields to give the objects the illusion of substance," she started to explain.

"We haven't got TARDIS technology, so the holodeck walls can generate holographic images that seem to extend for an unlimited distance, seemingly larger than its own dimensions. In doing so, however, the holodeck is aware only of its users; it does not recognize its own created objects.

"For example, if a person were to throw a holographic cup at the holodeck's walls, the cup would not be allowed to pass beyond the wall.

"It does this by continually adjusting the projections of the force fields and the use of a force field 'treadmill'. So as you approach a wall, it causes an instant shift away.

"The holodeck can change gravity in three dimensions, so that you don't notice the change."

The Jackie hologram said. "What's she on about, Rose? It sounds like a load of rubbish to me."

Rose was trying to take it all in. "So it's like being in a 3D photograph that moves. All of this is an illusion, generated by a computer from information it has on file?" she said, hoping she'd got a handle on it.

"Exactly, crew members can come here and 'visit' home when they feel blue. Just experiencing the sights, sounds and smells of home can lighten the mood," Deanna told her.

"You've got that right," Rose said. She felt like a child again waiting for Christmas morning.

They sat drinking and chatting, the Jackie hologram was very good at joining in the conversation. The computers adaptive software kept up and used verbal and visual prompts to select sentences. By the time they had finished their drinks, Rose had forgotten her mum wasn't real. She stood up and said. "C'mon, Mum, Let's show Deanna how we do retail therapy."

The three of them set off into the snow. Their first port of call was a department store to get a couple of winter coats. Rose had a thick woollen poncho with hood to go over her sling. Deanna had a fur coat and hat that made her look like a Russian tsarina.

They went to jewellers and perfumiers, and Rose took them to a famous confectioner that specialised in chocolate.

Deanna was in heaven. She sampled milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, mint chocolate, orange chocolate, chocolate toffee, chocolate fudge and every other imaginable chocolate.

With a mouthful of Turkish Delight she said. "Computer, save program. I am definitely coming here again." Rose and her virtual mum were laughing at the chocolate around their mouths.

"There's one more thing I want you to try," Rose informed her and they set off for a wine bar.

"This is called Bailey's Irish Cream," Rose said as the cute barman poured them a glass each.

"Rose, I had no idea 21st century Earth had so much to offer," she said as the liqueur cream slipped down her throat.

They sat at the bar chatting, while Deanna shamelessly eyed the barman's bum. She told Rose about Will and how they had first dated over twenty years ago.

Their careers took different paths until they were both assigned to the Enterprise a couple of years later. Their friendship was purely professional until the ship was exposed to metaphasic radiation four years ago. It rekindled their romance and that was that.

"How long have you known the Doctor?" Deanna asked her, pouring them both another drink.

"Can you ask me an easier question?" Rose laughed. Deanna looked puzzled. Rose tried to explain. "You know that thing Einstein said," she started. "Time is relative or something like that," she said.

"The duration of time can vary according to events and reference frames," Deanna quoted from her Starfleet Academy physics.

Rose nodded. "When you travel with the Doctor, you start to understand what that means."

She started counting on her fingers. "Let's see. I met him 373 years ago by your reckoning. One year and three months by my Mum's. No, sorry, make that two years and three months, I forgot that we lost a year coming back from 19th century Cardiff, that should have been London. And by TARDIS reckoning, just over four years," she finished with a grin.

Deanna sat open-mouthed, staring at Rose.

"I need another drink," was all she could say.

When Deanna finally said "end programme," they were left standing in a large room criss-crossed with yellow lines and the orange doors in the archway where they came in.

As they walked to the doors, Rose said, "Deanna, Data mentioned something about guest quarters."

Deanna smiled and gave her a wink.


	14. Chapter 14

Notes: The crew of the Enterprise find out what they're up against and the Doctor helps capture a Yautja. (It's not going to be happy about that!)

**Chapter 14**

Captain Picard was at his desk in his ready room, next to the bridge. He was updating his log when the intercom on his desk chirped. He pressed the acknowledge button and Beverley Crusher's face appeared on the viewer.

"Dr. Crusher, what can I do for you?" he asked her.

"Sorry to bother you, but a patient here insists on speaking with you," she explained.

Picard could only think of one patient in Sick Bay that would insist. "That's alright Beverley, put him on."

Worf's face appeared on the viewer. "Captain. I know I am temporarily relieved of duties, but as chief of security I must recommend against any movement of crew to or from the Borg vessel until the parasite threat has been assessed and neutralized."

Picard smiled to himself. Worf could be on his death-bed and still think of his duty before drawing his last breath.

"Thank you Mr. Worf, that would be prudent. Your comment has been noted in my log. Now I order you to get some rest so that I can have you back on duty," he told him.

"Yes sir."

Beverley's face came back on the viewer.

"If he gives you any more trouble, set phasers to stun and shoot him," Picard said light-heartedly.

Beverley laughed and signed off.

Picard stared out of the window into the space beyond. Worf had a point. If just one of those things got on board the Enterprise it could be disastrous. Even with all its advanced technology, it could still be vulnerable. And what were the other two intruders they had detected on the Borg ship? One of which had nearly killed Worf and the Doctor. Where did they fit into all this? He needed answers, and fast or others were going to die.

* * *

It was the early hours of the morning when the Doctor left the bio-science lab with Data. He said good night and was about to head for the TARDIS when Data informed him that the ships manifest reported that Rose was in an executive suite on deck ten. 'The little minx,' he thought to himself as Data led the way.

The Doctor stepped into the apartment and the door slid shut behind him.

The far wall had large windows and sloped with the curve of the hull. The support struts divided the room into three areas, dining, lounging and sleeping.

Rose was asleep in bed, lying on her right side with her back to him. He stripped off and slid under the sheets to 'spoon' her, his left arm gently embracing her as he cupped one of her breasts.

She stirred and looked back over her shoulder. "Hi," she whispered sleepily. He kissed her bare shoulder, returning the greeting.

Rose gently rolled on to her back, lifting her left leg over the Doctors waist and started to make love.  
This wasn't the lust driven passionate sex they had performed on Risa, this was proper love-making, slow, thoughtful, spiritual. After they had finished, they fell asleep, still coupled together.

This wasn't the lust driven passionate sex they had performed on Risa, this was proper love-making, slow, thoughtful, spiritual. After they had finished, they fell asleep, still coupled together.

* * *

'Chirrup, chirrup.' It was the ship's intercom.

The Doctor drowsily brought his head from under the sheets. "Hello?" he asked the chirping sound.

Captain Picard's voice came out of the ceiling. "Doctor, Miss Tyler, I am convening a briefing in the conference room in an hour and wondered if you would like attend?"

Rose's head came from under the sheets.

"Yes of course Captain," he yawned. "We'll be there," the Doctor said.

"An hour? I wonder what we could do in that time?" she asked as her hand slid down his abdomen.

"Ooh, look what I've found," she said. "I know what we can do." She flashed him an impish grin and disappeared beneath the sheets. The Doctor rested his hands behind his head.

He heard her muffled voice from under the covers say. "I wonder if there's any spiced honey on board?"

"Little minx," he chuckled.

* * *

Around the table in the conference room were the senior staff that they already knew except for Mr. Worf, who was still in Sick Bay. There was a new face at the table that Rose hadn't seen before but the Doctor had seen last night.

Captain Picard stood as they entered the room. "Ah, Doctor. Rose. Thank you for joining us." He shook hands with them both. "Doctor you've already met our exobiologist, Commander Bellamy."

The commander nodded his head in greeting. "Doctor, Miss Tyler," he said.

The Captain continued. "We've also got Mr. T'vrok via a link from the Borg ship."

On the wall at the far end of the table, the display screen showed the face of the Vulcan. He still had the optical implant, but a lot of the interconnecting tubes had been removed.

"I've called this meeting because we need some answers, and we need them fast," he told them. "So let's get straight to the point. Mr. Bellamy, what has your team found out about the alien specimen and the claw retrieved from around Data's arm."

Bellamy, a middle-aged man with greying hair, stood up and moved to the head of the table where the display screen was located. It went to split screen so the group could still see T'vrok.

"The creature appears to be a xenomorphic, obligate parasite," he started, and then saw some of the blank faces around the table. "Sorry. It changes its form at different times in its life cycle. It requires a host organism to gestate from pupa to adult."

There were photographs and graphics on the viewer to explain the commentary.

"Once the adult phase leaves the host, it starts to deposit silicates in the dermis effectively turning it into an exoskeleton. This makes it incredibly resilient and masks its internal biological functions from our sensors. It appears to grow rapidly, and sheds its skin in a similar way to that of a snake. When the blood is released into an oxygen rich environment, it becomes a highly corrosive organic acid until it is completely oxidized."

Various pictures from the away team mission were displayed to show this, including Worf's D'k'tahg which was now just a handle with a pitted fragment of blade sticking out of it.

Captain Picard asked a question. "Mr. Bellamy. Do you know how the pupa is introduced into the host?"

Bellamy shook his head. "We don't know that yet. We presume it's some form of ingestion or inhalation."

T'vrok's voice came from the screen. "Perhaps I can help you with that," he began. "From the linked minds of the poor souls that fell victim to this parasite. There are several large eggs that contain the pupa. When a host is in range, the egg opens and the pupa attaches itself to the face. A proboscis is forced down the throat which keeps the host alive while a second pupa stage is implanted in the chest. Metamorphosis then occurs and the adult emerges from the chest and, if undisturbed eats the host to fuel its phenomenal growth spurt."

The room was silent with horror.

"Mr. T'vrok, do you have any idea how these eggs came to be on the Borg ship?" the Captain asked.

"Yes Captain. This is where the Borg ran into trouble. There are three xenopaths on the ship. They call themselves Yautja. One of them was assimilated and so we were able to share its thoughts. They regard themselves as the ultimate hunters, and any other species is just meat. They are highly intelligent, technologically advanced and are psychopathic killers. Unlike Vulcans who understand the concept of emotions and control them, these beings have none," T'vrok explained.

The Captain turned to Data. "Mr. Data, can you show the enhanced image that the Doctor retrieved from the TARDIS?"

Data's fingers flew over the controls and an image of the two metre tall alien appeared as a freeze frame at the instant that the phaser strike had momentarily disabled its shield.

T'vrok nodded. "Yes Captain, that's one of them. They impregnated three drones on board their ship and then they were beamed on board where they erupted so that they could hunt them for sport and as part of their rite of passage."

"So that's what the Yautja look like," the Doctor said to himself.

"You know them?" Picard asked him.

"I know of them," he replied. "They are the stuff of legend and nightmares. It is said you only meet them once, and then you die. No one has ever lived to tell the tale and describe them."

The Captain looked around the table. "So, it seems we have two problems. Now let's get a solution."

Geordie stood and addressed the gathering. "Captain. Data and myself have worked on an idea proposed by the Doctor, similar to how he removed the implants from Rose. Using the transporters, we can modify the pattern buffers and incorporate one of Dr. Crusher's bio-scanners into the transport stream. In effect we can dematerialize a contaminated person, filter out the parasite and only rematerialize the person. This way we could evacuate the Borg vessel and leave both threats safely behind."

Picards eyebrows raised. "That sounds promising Mr. La Forge, have you tested it?"

Data answered for Geordie. "We have modified the transporter pad in Cargo Bay Four where the quarantine field has been established. Dr. Crusher is producing a culture of living cells in which we can place a section of the arm that Mr. Worf severed. We will attempt to transport it from the incubator in Sick Bay to the modified pad. If we are successful we should only get the cultured gel and no alien tissue. We will need to do a number of transports to get a good calibration on the tissues."

Captain Picard smiled. "How soon can you start?" he asked them.

"Dr. Crusher should have enough gel in twelve minutes and thirty eight seconds," Data answered.

"Excellent work gentlemen, I suggest you make preparations to begin your tests. Keep me apprised of your progress," he told them.

Data and Geordie left the conference room.

The intercom chirped on the table and Picard answered it. "Captain, we have detected a Borg transporter signature in engineering."

Picard looked up at T'vrok's image on the screen. "Mr. T'vrok?"

The Vulcan was already investigating. The Doctor had a sudden, chilling thought.

T'vrok said. "The xenopath has recovered his equipment and used the transporter."

The Doctor spoke to the screen. "Mr. T'vrok, is your Borg transceiver still connected to the hive mind?"

On the screen T'vrok nodded. "Yes Doctor."

The Doctor looked around the table. "One of the xenopaths was assimilated. It has Borg implants that connect it to the hive mind. I think it is safe to assume that it knows exactly what we're up to, through Mr. T'vrok. I don't think they intend to be left behind."

The Captain spoke into the intercom. "Red alert. Intruder in engineering, armed and extremely dangerous."

* * *

The Captain, Data and a security team led by Sinclair were outside the main entrance to engineering.

Sinclair was standing by the door controls when he addressed the Captain. "Captain, as acting Chief of security I must advise against you entering this area."

The Captain looked at Sinclair. "Thank you Lieutenant, your concern is noted. However as Captain I need to communicate with this being and try to persuade it to stop hunting us."

The Captain stood next to Data in front of the doors and nodded to Sinclair. The Lieutenant released the door lock and they slid apart with a swish.

Picard moved in to the left and Data to the right. The team of security officers moved quickly ahead to secure their positions. Sinclair secured the doors as they closed.

Outside engineering on the next deck up, the Doctor was using his sonic screwdriver on a single door to disable the security lock down.

As a civilian, the Captain couldn't allow the Doctor into a known hazardous area. Needless to say, he didn't know the Doctor very well.

The door swished open and the Doctor stepped inside.

He was on a walkway above main engineering. To his right was the warp core, a pulsating cylinder that extended from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. He could feel the energy throbbing inside the containment field.

The walkway circled all the way around the core. He moved forwards to the hand rail and carefully looked over the edge.

He could see Captain Picard and some security officers moving along the far wall. He stepped back and moved to his right along the walkway.

He took a pair of 3D glasses out of his jacket pocket and put them on. They weren't just red and green lenses, he'd modified them to analyse much more of the electromagnetic spectrum.

At the end of the walkway there was a small elevator platform and a set of ladders against the wall. The Doctor crouched down and looked over the edge towards the warp core.

"Ah, there you are," he whispered to himself. The Yautja was moving around from behind the core, invisible to the Enterprise assault team.

The Doctor adjusted his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the alien. There was a high-pitched warbling whistle as the screwdriver disabled the Yautja's equipment.

The Doctor stood up, stood on the elevator and started to descend. In one action, ten phaser rifles pointed at him.

He immediately put his hands up and shouted. "It's me, the Doctor!"

Captain Picard started towards the descending platform.

With his hands still up, the Doctor pointed towards the core. "He's the one you're looking for," he said. In one movement, ten phaser rifles pointed toward the warp core.

* * *

Takal-Atak had heard the main doors to engineering open and was manoeuvring around the large power cylinder when his head-up display failed. Not only that, his personal shield went down and his shoulder plasma caster went limp.

"Damn," he thought as he moved back out of sight. He pulled the breathing tube from the helmet and removed it. He then unfastened the body armour and shrugged it off his shoulders.

There was a shimmering light around him and he was in a small cell.

* * *

"Doctor. What are you doing here? I told you it was too dangerous for a civilian," Captain Picard said sternly.

The Doctor grinned. "Yes I know, but I thought if I could disable his defences and armaments with this," he held up his sonic screwdriver. "We might be able to avoid any blood shed. Now he's just behind the warp core, if you're quick you might be able to beam him into a secure holding cell."

The Captain was speechless. He just stared at the Doctor incredulously.

He tapped his comm-link. "Picard to transporter room one, get a lock on the alien next to the warp core and beam him to a holding cell in Security."

A voice came back over the comm-link. "Co-ordinates locked, beginning transport. Transport complete, the alien is secure in holding cell one."

The Captain turned to Sinclair. "Lieutenant, you can stand your team down."

Sinclair gave a signal to his team and they did a sweep of the area before leaving.

Data came from behind the core carrying the alien armour. "This may be of use in helping us find the other aliens Captain."

Picard nodded. "Good idea Data. Get to work on it as soon as you can."

He finally turned to the Doctor. "Now Doctor, I am not used to having my orders disobeyed, particularly by a civilian. However, your actions did make capturing the alien particularly easy. I will over look it on this occasion."

The Doctor looked suitably chastised.

Picard tapped his comm-link again. "Councillor Troi, would you join us in Security. We will need your skills in interrogating the prisoner."

Troi's voice came back. "Yes Captain, I'll be right there. Troi out."

Picard smiled. "Now Doctor, shall we go and see what we've netted."

The Doctor grinned again. "Aye, aye Cap'n," he said in his best pirate voice.

Captain Picard and the Doctor stood at the opening to the holding cell. An energy field separated them from the alien hunter.

Deanna and Rose entered the security reception area and came over to the cells. Rose had been in Sick Bay having her sling and eye patch removed.

Now Rose had seen a variety of aliens on her travels, but this one was one of the ugliest she'd seen.

He was over two metres tall, full of muscles and a face that would curdle milk.

She thought the alien parasite was bad when she first saw it, but it had a somewhat sleek elegance about it. Like a Great White shark, you could admire the evolved package but you wouldn't want to be its lunch.

This Yautja however was just plain ugly. It had yellowish-green mottled skin, a small yellow eye and a set of lower and upper external mandibles. The Borg implants and tubes just seemed to accentuate its ugliness.

"Now, now Rose," the Doctor gently scolded. "Beauty is only skin deep."

The Captain stepped forwards. "I am Captain Jean Luc Picard of the star ship Enterprise."

Takal-Atak stared at him, his external mandibles flexing.

Picard looked towards Deanna. "Councillor?"

Deanna looked away from the alien towards the Captain. "I'm sensing rage and indignation. He's furious that we've captured him."

The Doctor stepped up and in his cheery voice said. "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

Deanna was shocked. She could feel power in his words. He was speaking directly into the aliens thoughts and could not be ignored.

Takal-Atak looked down at the Doctor. "I do not speak to meat!"

The Doctor smiled, turned to Picard and whispered. "He thinks we're nothing more than animals to be hunted and slaughtered. The only language he understands is violence, probably instilled from childhood. Run with me on this, I've got an idea," he told the Captain.

The Doctor turned back to the alien. "Now that's a shame. Because if you did speak to meat, then this meat could save your species from annihilation. You see, the Captain here and his Federation will protect themselves, like they have with the Borg, and your race will suffer."

The Doctor was goading the Yautja into a dialogue. The Doctor was about to try again when a deep voice spoke behind them.

"Lieutenant Commander Worf reporting for duty."

Everyone turned and there was a chorus of greetings and congratulations. Worf walked up to the cell and glared at the alien, Takal-Atak glared back.

"So this is one of the hunters that tried to kill me," Worf growled.

Deanna and the Doctor saw the subtle change in the alien and detected his change of attitude.

The Doctor came and stood beside Worf. "He's a big chap, isn't he Worf? Do you reckon you could take him in a fair fight?"

Worf looked at the Doctor and snarled and then looked back at the alien. "I could take him." It wasn't said as a boast, it was a statement of fact.

"Doctor," Picard started to protest.

"Captain, this alien recognises the Klingon warrior in Worf. I think Worf may be able to get through to him," the Doctor explained.

"The Federation has laws and rules of conduct Doctor. I cannot condone one of my officers fighting a prisoner for any reason."

Rose put a hand up. "Err, Doctor?"

The Doctor waved her off and said. "Not now Rose." He was still trying to persuade Picard that the alien only understood fighting.

Rose tried again. "Doctor?"

He was exasperated. "Later Rose, please."

Deanna could sense something in Rose. She knew something, something important. She had an insight. "Captain Picard. I believe Rose has something important to say."

The Captain looked away from the Doctor towards Rose. "Oh, I'm sorry Rose. Please forgive my rudeness. Go ahead."

Rose was suddenly self-conscious, everyone was looking at her. "Erm, all I was going to say was, what about the holodeck?"

The Doctor looked puzzled. "What?"

Rose started to explain. "Yesterday I spent a couple of hours with my mum in Oxford street, it was a week before Christmas. The holodeck created everything, snow, people, buildings, drinks. I nearly got run over by a black cab."

The Doctors face lit up. "Rose, you're a genius."

He reached over, grabbed her and gave her a big kiss and a hug.


	15. Chapter 15

Notes: So this is it. The Yautja escapes and causes havoc.  
Thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have imagining it.

Chapter 15

Takal-Atak prowled around the holding cell like a caged animal. He'd tested the walls, the floor, the ceiling and the energy field across the opening, all to no avail.

His double-bladed dagger, his throwing disk and his telescopic spear could scratch the surface but it would take years to make a hole big enough to escape through. So he just prowled.

It was sometime later when all hell let loose. He heard an announcement over the intercom that two intruders had beamed into engineering.

'That'll be Jamal-Nanak and Garak-Salak,' he thought to himself.

Shortly after that the lights shimmered and went out. He tested the energy shield with his hand. Nothing! He stepped over the threshold just as the power came back on.

From the intercom on the desk he could hear warnings about the warp core being jettisoned, and switching to auxiliary power.

He moved carefully to his left and looked around the corner. There was a security guard at the desk. Before the guard could raise the alarm or his weapon, his head was separated from his shoulders with a disk embedded in the wall behind him.

Takal-Atak retrieved the weapon and hung it on his belt. Outside, the corridor was deserted. With everyone at their stations, he could move around with little risk of detection.

He moved along the corridor until he eventually reached a turbo-lift. The door slid open and the poor ensign inside didn't even have time to express surprise, before two blades entered her heart and stopped it from beating.

He looked around the cylindrical lift and saw no controls. 'Voice activated,' he thought to himself.

"Engineering," he said to the lift. The universal translator converted the sound of pebbles in a jar into 'engineering' and started to move.

The engineering section of the Enterprise was full of smoke and debris. Lieutenant Commander Worf and a handful of his men were either side of the open doors, looking in briefly, letting off a few shots and then retreating.

If you stayed in one place too long there was a triangle of laser dots, quickly followed by a bolt of high energy plasma.

Some of the troops had managed to get inside and had taken up positions behind consoles and bulkheads. Their performance was hampered by the fact that they couldn't see what they were shooting at.

Worf had just fired a volley of shots and taken cover again when he noticed movement at the end of the corridor. Through the smoke and dust he saw the unmistakable outline of the Yautja.

Worf put down his phaser and took his bat'leth off his shoulder. He had brought his Klingon 'sword of honour' in the hope of meeting one of these predators face to face.

Resembling a crescent-shaped, two-ended scimitar, the bat'leth was wielded using three handholds along the outside edge of the blade.

As Worf approached the Yautja he could see he was holding a baton, which he flicked and extended into a spear.

"I hoped that we would meet in combat," Worf growled.

"As was I," Takal-Atak responded.

They stood a short distance from each other and Worf held his bat'leth vertically in salute then crouched with it held in his right hand above his head.

Takal-Atak held the spear above his head and then twirled it around his body a few times coming to rest cradled in his right elbow.

There was a low growling coming from both fighters and they suddenly burst into action with a flurry of blows and the clang of metal on metal.

The fighters crouched, jumped and spun in a deadly dance of combat. Worf attacked the head, parried a blow to the body, crouched and attacked the legs.

Takal-Atak somersaulted over the attack and brought the spear down in a vertical blow towards Worf's head. The bat'leth blocked the attack and Worf delivered a powerful side kick to the Yautja's abdomen.

Takal-Atak staggered backwards and Worf advanced forwards with another flurry of blows, swinging the bat'leth in a figure of eight with one hand then the other.

They moved along the corridor, attacking and defending as they went until they had to stop to catch their breath. They faced each other, panting for breath, staring into each others eyes.

Behind the Yautja there was an alcove in the corridor wall where a service ladder went up into a tunnel. Through the corner of his eye, Worf saw a sleek, black head come slowly out of the tunnel and turn toward the Yautja.

Both fighters straightened up and Takal-Atak thrust the spear at Worf's chest. Worf parried the blow and deliberately swung his bat'leth high over the Yautja's head, catching the alien parasite and slicing through the middle of its long cranium.

Takal-Atak's spear swung around in a counter-attack and hit Worf's left arm, just as he saw the alien fall out of the tunnel and flop onto the floor.

Worf staggered against the wall, his arm broken, but his bat'leth still held ready to fight.

"You struck this creature instead of me," Takal-Atak said.

"Only so that I could finish you myself," Worf roared. "Today is a good day to die."

Takal-Atak was watching the green blood ooze from the alien carcass, but something was wrong. The floor should have been bubbling and dissolving from the effects of the powerful organic acid blood.

He looked towards Worf who was advancing towards him, when Captain Picards voice came from everywhere.

"End programme."

Worf and the alien parasite slowly vanished. Then the corridor vanished and he was standing in a large room with a criss-cross pattern of yellow lines.

Captain Picard and his senior staff, along with the Doctor and Rose, had watched the events on Holodeck One unfold.

When Rose had suggested the idea, the Doctor knew that the Yautja had to experience a virtual battle without realising it.

The Enterprise crew recalled how they had deceived a hostile race called the Son'a into thinking they were still on their own ship when in fact they had been beamed on to a holoship replica.

Deanna had agreed with the Doctor that for such a xenopathic species, only a realistic simulation on the holodeck would convince them to kill holograms instead of the real thing.

The apparent power failure in the holding cell was actually when Takal-Atak was transported into the holodeck along with his two comrades from the Borg ship.

The Doctor hoped that the bit at the end, where the Worf hologram killed the parasite, might make the Yautja receptive to Worf as a fellow warrior.

They were all now standing in the corridor outside the holodeck. From the control console in the alcove, Data opened the doors.

As chief security officer, Worf entered first followed by the rest of the group.

Takal-Atak was standing to their left, looking at them. The other two were to the right, removing their helmets.

"Our weapons no longer function," Jamal-Nanak said.

"They were disabled when you were beamed aboard," Data told them. "The holodeck simulated all the weapons fire that you experienced.

Worf walked toward the lone Yautja. He nodded an acknowledgement. "You fight with courage and skill," he growled.

Takal-Atak flexed his mandibles. "And if that was you I was fighting, so do you."

Data offered an explanation. "You were fighting an exact copy of Worf. The computer uses information gathered when Worf has training fights on the holodeck. If you were to fight now, you would notice no difference."

Jamal-Nanak and Garak-Salak had come to stand by their comrade.

Captain Picard spoke next. "We created the deception to demonstrate how realistic a holodeck can be. You can hunt and kill any species you choose, without any coming to harm."

It was Deanna's turn to explain. "We are not like you. We prefer to communicate and make friends rather than kill. Even a warrior such as Worf controls his aggression while he is on board."

Worf looked at her indignantly. Deanna smiled back at him.

"So you have a choice," the Doctor said. "You can carry on as you are, killing everyone you come across, or you can accept the offer of the technology to create things to kill."

The tone of the Doctor's voice turned cold. "Think carefully, and choose wisely. There are no second chances. And the Federation will defend themselves."

Deanna shuddered; she wondered how he did that with his voice.

The Captain faced Takal-Atak. "We have something in common. We have both been assimilated by the Borg. You now know what it is like to share the thoughts of millions. Use that experience and help your people to adapt."

The Yautja nodded, he understood now that meat can have feelings, but his comrades would not.

"I will be seen as an outcast by my people if I tried to convince them of your words," he told them. "Although this technology would impress them enormously."

The Doctor had an idea. "Hang on a minute," he said and ran over to the controls in the alcove.

He put on his glasses and furrowed his brow as he tapped at the controls. Seconds later, a Tyrannosaurus appeared in front of the three Yautja. It lifted its head, roared and then lunged at them. They immediately spread out and surrounded the animal, weapons drawn and ready to strike.

The Doctor continued to work the controls, looking over to the group with a big grin on his face.

Suddenly the Tyrannosaurus was replaced by three Daleks that rotated on the spot to face the three Yautja.

"Exterminate!" they declared as one voice before being replaced by six Judoon, Cardassian and Sontaran soldiers. The soldiers in groups of three, raised their weapons and locked on to the Yautja. All the fighters stood motionless, assessing the situation and waiting for everything to 'kick off'.

The Doctor casually strolled over in to the middle of the group and said with a grin. "Hah! It reminds me of a Saturday night in a Klingon pub. You lot look like you've got your work cut out for you."

He walked up to Takal-Atak and said. "I think this lot will be more persuasive than any words you could say."

* * *

Beverley Crusher and her team had worked double shifts to remove as many of the implants from as many of the survivors as they could.

A medical frigate was inbound and would be at their location in six hours with an army of medical staff to take over.

Deanna had started group therapy sessions to start the healing process. The e-pads had been programmed with a virtual therapist that would help them when they needed it.

Geordie Laforge had been overseeing the teleporting of the survivors off the Borg ship. He had also managed to recover the predator's ship from a hangar in the cube. The last of the survivors were beamed off the cube and the Enterprise moved away to a safe distance.

Geordie remotely shut down the power grid stabilisers on the cube. Within minutes the warp core went critical and detonated in a pretty good impression of a super nova.

In Sickbay, Dr. Crusher had removed Takal-Atak's implants and he had a regeneration patch over his eye socket while another eye grew into place. His left arm was in a regeneration sling, growing back the forearm and hand that had been removed by the Borg.

Worf entered Sickbay escorting the other Yautja to see their crew mate. "The Captain has asked me to escort you to your ship in the shuttle bay," he told them.

Takal-Atak looked at his crew mates and back to Worf. "That will be acceptable," he said,  
which was as close to a thank you as you could get.

"This Captain must be a great warrior to have soldiers like you," he said.

Worf thought about this. He could easily defeat the Captain in a straight fight, but the Captain inspired trust and loyalty, and had courage beyond measure.

"Yes, he is a great warrior," Worf said simply. And with that they left Sickbay and headed for the shuttle bay.

Outside the TARDIS, Rose was chatting to Deanna and Will while the Doctor was talking to Data, who had given him a tricorder as a gift.

"Noonian Soong! I knew you looked familiar Data. Trust him to make you in his image, always did have an ego," the Doctor told him. "He was a real mad scientist, brilliant but didn't think of the consequences of his actions."

"You knew my father?" Data asked.

"He had just achieved his doctorate in positronic physics. In fact he gave me the first positronic brain he ever made. It was pretty basic. I eventually had it put a robotic dog by Professor Marius in the fiftieth century."

Rose caught the end of the conversation. "Was that K9 you're talking about?" she asked the Doctor.

"That's right, a brilliant little dog too," he replied.

"So I have a relative in the form of a dog?" Data enquired seriously.

The Doctor looked at Data flabbergasted. He didn't know how to answer that one. Fortunately he didn't have to, because at that moment Captain Picard entered the cargo bay with Geordie and Worf.

"Doctor, Rose, we will be sad to see you go. The Federation of Planets and all the planets in the galaxy owes you a debt of gratitude. One that can never be repaid," the Captain said solemnly.

The Doctor waved his hand in dismissal. "I was only glad to help," he said. "Just in a days work for us, isn't it Rose?"

He held out his hand and Rose took it with her new hand. They came close and stood side by side. "It's time for us to go now. Rose is waiting to get back to see her mum."

He looked down at Rose. "Don't forget, we'll have to pretend that nothing's been going on between us or she'll kill me!" he told her. Deanna burst out laughing, and most of the assembled group laughed or smiled.

They said their goodbyes and entered the TARDIS. It made its characteristic wheezing sound and slowly vanished, leaving the senior staff of the Enterprise with a feeling of melancholy.

Something remarkable had touched their lives, made a lasting impression, and then left, leaving a hole that couldn't be filled.

They looked at each other and could see they all felt the same, even Data, with his emotion chip activated.

They turned and headed for the cargo bay doors. The doors opened with a swoosh, accompanied by a wheezing sound that they had heard before.

The wooden blue box materialised where it had vanished seconds before. The door opened and the Doctors head popped out.

"Are you still here? I thought you would have gone by now. Permission to come aboard Captain," he said.

Picard smiled and looked at his crew. "Permission granted Doctor, of course. You don't need permission to board the Enterprise, you will always be welcome," he told him.

"Oh good," the Doctor grinned. "Because I have a debt that needs paying."

He stepped out of the TARDIS followed by a young man in jeans, tee-shirt and baseball cap.

"Bloody hell," the young man said in a Welsh accent. "It's real. I don't bloody believe it," he said.

Rose stepped out of the TARDIS behind them.

"This is Welsh Pete," the Doctor explained. "He doesn't know it, but he helped Rose to save my life," he told the group.

"Ah, the origin of the reminder on Rose's phone," Data said.

"Not much gets past you, does it," the Doctor said.

Data was about to make a comment about his ability to stop moving objects, when the Captain spoke. "Welcome aboard the Enterprise, err, Welsh Pete," he said.

"Eh? Oh, thank you very much. This is amazing," he said in awe.

"Perhaps Captain, you could open the cargo bay loading doors and show him the view," the Doctor suggested.

"Of course," Picard replied. He nodded to Geordie, who went to the console and operated the external doors. A view of the stars and the aft section of the Enterprise opened in front of them.

"Oh my God," Welsh Pete uttered as he slowly walked toward the opening. "They're never going to believe this back in the shop," he said. "Never in a million years."

"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor said. "They might believe it in about three hundred."

Pete turned around and looked at the crew. "They've even got an alien look," he said pointing at Worf.

Rose took Pete by the arm and steered him towards the TARDIS as Worf growled.

"I think that's enough Pete. It's rude to point and not wise to upset a Klingon," she told him.

The Doctor waved at the crew. "Bye again, we hope to see you again sometime."

He turned and ushered Pete into the TARDIS.

"Can we go and have a look at some dinosaurs?" Pete asked from inside.

"Don't push it," came the Doctors reply as the door shut.

The senior staff of the Enterprise E, watched with smiling faces and fond memories as the TARDIS slowly faded away for the last time.

* * *

Post Script.

The Doctor and Rose never got to Will and Deanna's wedding, events over took them.

The Time Lords of Gallifrey never look into their own future, because that is the route to folly, despair and disaster. If the Doctor had looked into his future he would have seen that the day he took Rose home to see her mum was the day that he lost her.

The Earth had become a focal point for an inter-dimensional war between the Daleks and Cybermen.

With Rose's help, the Doctor had opened the rift in the void between universes and 'sucked' the warring armies back into the void. The Doctor watched helplessly as Rose lost her grip and fell towards the rift.

At the last second her 'alternate' dad Pete Tyler, jumped into this universe, caught her and jumped out again just before the rift closed. The Doctor stood in silence, his heart aching as he looked at the blank wall where the alternate universe had been. It had happened again. He had dared to love and he had paid the price.

The Doctor eventually went to see Will and Deanna get married, when the pain of his loss had subsided. He had some comfort in knowing that Rose had been reunited with her long-lost father and that her 'real' mother was also there with her. They were a family again.

He stood at a distance and watched the ceremony. He didn't want to spoil their big day with the sad news about Rose, so he thought of their time on Risa and smiled.

He sent Deanna feelings of his love for Rose and thoughts of congratulations on their marriage. As a wedding present he sent her the knowledge that they would eventually be very happy parents (he may not be able to look into his own future, but he could look into others).

He saw Deanna look around, whisper to Will and then both look around the guests, searching for a pair of familiar faces.

The Doctor turned and walked away towards the TARDIS, still smiling at his memories of that wonderful holiday.

After all, they would always have Risa.

**The End.**


End file.
